


Sleeping Together

by SalmonDragon



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Background lorelei/zer0/rhys, Background moze/amara, Drinking, Fl4k keeps accidentally making innuendos, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for FL4K, Hangover, Literal Sleeping Together, Lorelei and Zer0 both use he/they, Lots of background ships I'm going to stop tagging them, Other, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-17 12:54:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 23,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29593104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SalmonDragon/pseuds/SalmonDragon
Summary: Zane struggles with his feelings for Fl4k as well as memories from his past.
Relationships: FL4K/Zane Flynt
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	1. The Homestead

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not good at summaries and I havent wrote fanfiction in a really, really long time. I hope it's good.

Zane was still half asleep when his alarm woke him from his dream filled with pain and fire. God, it was too early to be woken up like this. Why did he set an alarm, again? He groaned and reached for his echo, which displayed the time as 10:30 a.m. Not that early then. He groaned and got up, trying to remember what they were supposed to be doing today. Oh, right, that job for the Honeywells. Zane got dressed and grabbed some supplies before leaving. At least four and a half hours isn't the least amount sleep he's ever gotten. He started walking towards Moxxi's to meet up and eat with the others. 

When he got there Amara, Moze, and Fl4k were already waiting for him at a booth. Amara and Moze were eating while Fl4k was looking at their echo device which was displaying pictures of colorful frogs. Zane sat down beside Amara and called Moxxi over so he could order some food. Once he was done Amara looked over at him and asked, "Rough night?" 

"Sort of. I think I just need coffee in my system." Zane wasn't gonna tell them about the whole nightmare thing. He doesn't like being open about that. Or about anything, really. 

Soon Moxxi came back with a plate of food and cup of coffee and set it down in front of him. Zane could hear something huffing and whining under the table. He peeked under the table and Mr.Chew stared expectantly back at him. Zane grabbed some bacon off of his plate and passed it to him. Mr.Chew took it happily and started gnawing on it. 

Fl4k looked up from their echo and sighed. "I already fed him but he still insists on begging." 

"He sure does eat a lot. I'm surprised hes not a chubby skag." Moze replies, and reaches down to give Mr.Chew chin scratches. 

"He runs around too much to gain weight." Amara replies and also leans down to pet Mr.Chew. Mr.Chew enjoys the attention and starts making a weird purring sound. 

Zane is just about finished eating when the others start getting up to go leave. He finishes and pays before going to follow them. Moxxi stops him on his way out, and tells him "Good luck, sugar." He thanks her and heads to the fast travel station where the others are waiting. 

The four of them fast travelled to the Splinterlands. Amara digistructed a bright pink technical and hopped into the drivers seat. Moze climbed into the gunner seat, as usual. Zane hopped up into the back with Fl4k and Mr. Chew who was currently chewing on a bone he found near the fast travel station. Zane reached over and started petting him. "Aw who's a good skag? You are!" Mr. Chew happily nuzzled against his hand, and started purring again. 

Fl4k's lower eyelid raised and it seemed like they were smiling. "He seems to like you." Explosions from the turret could be heard from Moze's spot. 

"Well of course! Everyone likes me!" Zane said loudly over the sound of gunfire and screaming. 

Fl4k chuckled. "I don't like many humans but I suppose I like you." 

"Aw you getting a crush on me?" Zane asked, mostly joking. 

"Why would I crush you, you're my frien-" Fl4k asked, just as the technical hit a bump and knocked everyone around. A sorry could be heard from Amara and a scream from the bandit she just ran over. 

Zane burst out laughing once he stopped being bumped around. "That's not what that means-" 

Fl4k seemed to pause for a moment as if thinking when suddenly their eye shot open in surprise. "I- oh." They covered their face as if they were embarrassed. "Are y-" 

"We're here, everyone!" Amara yelled from the front. She slid out of the technical and brought out one of her weapons. 

Moze climbed down from the turret and dusted off her pants before joining Amara. Zane and Fl4k got off the back of the technical and joined them too. 

"So, Ma and Pa want us to start up their defense turret. I'll keep watch for any COV while you three go help set up the turret. If they show up while you're still fixing it I'll hold them off." Amara announces to the others. 

Moze looks worried and asks, "Are you sure you don't want me to go with you? Zane and Fl4k can probably do it by themselves. Plus if the COV show up we'll have better odds of holding them off together." 

"Eh, sure. You two can handle it yourselves right?" Amara asks. 

Fl4k looked up at the barn and to the places Ma and Pa said the chemicals were. "We just have to mix the fuel right? It wont be too hard but I probably should've brought Meat-thief instead." 

"One of you will have to do it. Try and make sure whoever it is doesn't fall." Moze says. 

"I'll do it." Zane said. 

"Okay Fl4k, make sure our old man doesn't fall." Amara replied snarkily. 

"Har har." Zane said and sighed. "Let's just get this show on the road already. We just gotta climb a bit is all." 

The four of them split up. Zane and Fl4k walked into the barn with Pa while Moze and Amara waited near the house with Ma. Pa showed them a switch on the ground floor and flipped it for them. "Now all ya gotta do is climb up over there and flip the switches in the right order for the right mix of fuel. Me and Ma will tell ya which is which, so don't worry too much." 

Zane grabbed ahold of the ladder leading upstairs and started climbing. Once he reached the top and pulled himself up he stopped for a second to take in his surroundings. "Theres a valve right beside ya, be a dear and turn it for us." Ma said helpfully. Zane turned the valve and looked for the next. Looks like he'll have to jump to a couple of different platforms to reach the next valve. Not too bad yet but who knows how high some of them are. 

He leapt between the platforms leading up to a ramp. He climbed it and then up the wall but his hands nearly slipped. Fl4k grabbed him with strong metal hands and steadied him. "Are you sure you do not want me to do this?" 

"Yeah I'm sure. I'm fine." Zane said, hoping they couldn't see his blush in the dark barn. 

"Okay old man." Fl4k said, jokingly. 

Zane huffed and kept going. He saw a valve on the other side of the wall, and jumped down. "That there is the quantum brine. Once you're done with that one, the next one might have to be knocked loose. Was always too tight." Ma called from over the echo. Seems like her and Pa are talking on their echos. Zane turned the valve and looked around for the next. He located it and climbed back up the wall and onto a nearby support beam. 

"Damn, it is pretty tight, won't budge at all." 

"Here, let me." Fl4k crawled up on the support beam and Zane moved back to let them take a look at it. They whacked it with their axe and it finally turned. Zane could've done it but honestly he thinks his laser claws wouldve done more harm than good here. 

"Good job, next valve is up top, head towards the window." Pa called from down below. Zane stood back up on the support beam and headed towards the big open window. The support beam broke off and he had to jump over to the ledge on the other side. He could see Moze and Amara from here. He looked to his right and saw another support beam. He climbed up and found a smaller window. Inside he could see the next valve which was more like a target than anything else. He came in threw the window and took aim with his pistol and fired. "Flat cherry cola, Bessies favorite! She's got everything she needs, head to the roof and power her up." Zane sighed and started climbing again. Why did they build their barn like this? At least the ladder led to a catwalk and not a narrow support beam. He climbed the, hopefully last, ladder and ended up on the roof. There was a single lever up here which he pulled. Ma's voice came over the echo again. "C'mon, Bessie dear, time to wake up!" 

"Just in time, the devils are crawling right to our doorstep!" 

Amara and Moze took notice of the bandits right away, and started fighting them back. Zane could already hear screams and gunfire. 

"Well, time to head back down." Zane said, sighing and turning to face Fl4k. They had their sniper rifle out. 

"I can snipe from up here, but are you going to be okay on your way back down?" Fl4k asked, concerned. 

"Er, probably?" Zane answered. The stubbornness from early was starting to wear odd. 

Fl4k narrowed their eye. "A probably won't do it. Wait a second." They put their sniper back inside their storage deck. "Would you like me to carry you down?" 

"Theres no need for-" a sudden explosion cut off Zane. Seems like Iron bear exploded but Moze seems fine. Ish. 

"They really need our help." 

"Fine. I guess." Fl4k picked up Zane in their arms and then jumped off the roof. "ARE YOU CRAZY-" Zane couldnt finish his sentence before him and Fl4k landed on the ground no worse for wear. 

"Ah, I'm sorry I shouldve warned you. My legs can absorb a lot of the shock of a fall. I don't have to worry too much about falling from heights." Fl4k said, calm as ever. Zane's heart was beating fast but at least he was safe. Fl4k let him down and Zane ran towards Amara and Moze. Fl4k brought out their sniper again and started firing. 

Bessie was firing at the bandits which provided some good cover fire for them. 

"Need help?" Zane asked. Moze was looking a little rough but she seemed fine. No major injuries. 

"Yeah, good thing you came here so quick." She fired her Flakker into a small crowd of nearby bandits. "They already took out ironbear, for now at least." 

Zane threw out his drone and started firing his pistol at some bandits. "Hows your girlfriend holding up?" 

"She's doing fine. She's pretty much in her element right now." Zane could hear excited yelling and laughing from Amara. 

Amara was phase slamming groups of bandits and shooting them with her SMG. She was always happiest in a fight. 

Fl4k was firing their rifle at some enemies when a psycho charged at them. Mr.Chew lunged fowards to protect Fl4k and started fending off the psycho. "Good boy!" 

Soon there were only a couple bandits left. Mr.Chew was happily chewing on a dead bandit when Zane finished killing the last one. "Visitors, come on by the porch." 

When they got there Ma and Pa were waiting for them. "Thank you for your help. Our homestead is repaired and replenished thanks to you." 

"You're all welcome here whenever you like. Would any of you like to come in for some tea?" Ma asked as she passed them their reward. 

The four of them looked at eachother and figured why not. Inside the house was nice and cold compared to the heat of Pandora. Once everyone sat down, Ma brought out some iced tea and started pouring glasses for everyone. Fl4k politely declined but Ma insisted. They secretly passed the tea to Zane when Ma wasn't looking. "It's rare to find such kind strangers nowadays. We really can't thank you enough for all your help." 

"It's no problem, I enjoy a good fight." Boasted Amara as Ma passed a plate full of meat to Mr.Chew. 

Moze smiles at Amara and says, "Yeah, we fight the COV a lot so this is no problem for us." 

"I enjoy it when the hunt gives me an opportunity to help others." Fl4k replied. 

"I had fun. If you ever have another bandit problem don't hesitate to ask us for help." Zane said, after taking a big drink of iced tea. 

"We'll certainly keep that in mind. Thank you so much." 

The sun was already starting to set. That took longer than Zane thought it did, though the tea break certainly didn't help. Everyone hopped back into the technical and started riding back to the fast travel station. Mr.Chew was already falling asleep in the back, probably tired from all the fighting and eating. Fl4k stared at the sleeping skag with a loving expression, and the setting sun covered the hunter in beautiful hues of orange and pink. Zane felt a small pang of jealousy towards the skag, but kept it to himself. It was silly and he knew it. Best just to keep it hidden. Fl4k said, suddenly, "You fought good today, Zane." 

"Aw, you're just saying that." Zane tried to deflect. 

"No, I am not. I can recognize a fellow badass when I see one." 

Zane laughed a little. "Thanks mate." 

The technical stopped when Amara called out, "Hey, we're here." 

Everyone jumped off the technical and headed towards the fast travel station. 

Once they were back in Sanctuary, Zane immediately headed to his room. He figured he may as well start repairing one of his drones he's had on his workshop bench for a while now. He grabbed a bottle of water and sat down to start working. 

A couple hours pass and he's almost done with it but he can't seem to get it the way he wants it. He let's out a sigh and is considering giving up for the night when he hears a knock on his door and gets up to open it. Outside is Fl4k who asks "May I come in?" 

"Uh, sure thing." Zane invites them in and he goes to sit down at his workbench again. He goes to take a sip of water. 

"I was wondering if you would like to sleep with me." Zane spit out his water. 

"WHA-" 

"I heard you having a nightmare last night and I figured someone being in the room might help. Mr.Chew is great at providing comfort as well." 

"Oh." Zane thought for a second. "Did I say something in my sleep?" 

Fl4k hummed. "Yes, I heard muffled yelps and screams from your room. I won't pry about the contents of the dream but I do know that lack of sleep can negatively affect humans." 

Zane considered it for a moment. It's true that he hasn't exactly been sleeping well recently. Maybe it would do him some good to sleep in their room. "Alright I suppose. I hope I won't be a bother." 

"I do not need to sleep so do not worry. I just hope Meat-thief doesn't try anything. He enjoys pranking people but I can charge myself and keep watch at the same time." 

Zane picked up his pillow and blanket and followed Fl4k to their room. He is immediately greeted by four sets of eyes staring at him from the inside of the dark room. Uh, didn't there used to be only three? "Oh, this is my new pet. I haven't thought of a good name yet so I just call them ION Loader for now." 

Even in the low light of Fl4k's room, Zane could see that the loader bot was bright Hyperion yellow and somewhat smaller than other loader bots. They had a large Hyperion brand sniper in one of their hands. Zane couldn't help but say, "I don't think- actually, y'know what? Never mind. I've seen weirder pets." 

"Please don't mind the mess. Or the pets." 

Zane let out a small sigh and laid down on Fl4k's bed. It doesnt seem to get much use other than their pets using it from time to time. He took off his boots and his jacket and placed them beside the bed. He lifted his head and put his pillow ontop of Fl4k's. Not like they use it. He also covered himself in his blanket. 

Fl4k sat down and pulled out a wire from their chest and plugged it into an outlet. "Goodnight, Zane." 

"Goodnight, Fl4k." Zane closed his eyes and hoped his sleep would be peaceful

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Realistically, everyone but Fl4k would take fall damage by falling off a building. Would I want it to be like that in-game? No.


	2. Red Chests

Zane woke up with a warm weight on his chest and an alarm clock that was, somehow, twice as annoying. He tried to get up but the weight on his chest wouldn't let him. He opened his eyes and saw Mr.Chew half asleep on his chest. He reached around for his echo so he could turn off his alarm. He managed to turn it off but it was still going somehow. Wait. Mr.Chew. That's right, he fell asleep in Fl4k's room last night. Zane heard shuffling and the alarm stopped. He looked over and saw Fl4k who was still plugged in and charging themself. "Sorry for that. I forgot to turn off my alarm last night." 

"I forgot mine too." Zane replied groggily while Mr.Chew got up and stretched. 

Fl4k unplugged themself from the wall and put their cord back into their chest. "We technically don't have any missions today so you may go back to sleep if you wish." They got up and started opening the cans hanging from their backpack straps. Mr.Chew, Meat-thief, and Broodless all gathered to their food bowls excitedly. Once that was done they checked the battery on ION Loader. They pulled out the loader bot's charging cable and plugged them in. The bot made a little heart symbol in the air with their hand. 

Zane slowly got up and stretched. Well, he didnt have any nightmares so that seems like a good sign. No missions today either. He started putting his boots and jacket back on. He walked up to Broodless and pet her on the top of her head. "Well, I'm gonna head out but I'll see you tonight maybe?" 

"You are welcome to sleep here anytime." 

"Gotcha. And uh. Thanks." Zane headed out the door. It was weird to be asleep in someone else's bed but that was the first full night's sleep he's had in a while. Thankfully no one was outside so Zane could just walk over to Moxxi's without it being weird. Once he got there he sat at one of the booths and ordered some breakfast. Claptrap and Ava were sitting in a nearby booth, talking about some of the adventures Claptrap has been on. Amara and Moze were in the booth behind them, probably on a date. 

Zane sat alone in relative silence, just scrolling the echonet and eating. Maybe he should try and look for some red chests in the Splinterlands. Lots of bandits talk about the red chest that's a reward for shooting those targets on that roller coaster. Hop over for a while and come back after like, an hour. Still lots of time to relax and a rollercoaster sounds fun. Zane hears people getting up from a table and leaving. Or he thought they were leaving but they just sat down right beside him. "Hey, Zane! How's that Clapslist mission I sent you on going?" 

"Not done yet boyo, need a break for today." 

"Back when I was a vault hunter, I didn't take breaks!" 

"Sure, boyo, but y'arent human. Did any of the humans in your group take em?" 

Claptrap stopped to think. "I guess....." 

"Well there ya go." Zane said, slightly annoyed. "Unless either of ye got any other questions that dont involve missions, I'll just be looking at my echo feed." 

"Well then, uh, Zane, I've been wondering. Claptrap and Maya told me stories about a man named Captain Flynt. I've always wondered, are you two related?" Ava asked tentatively. 

Claptrap laughs a little. "Pshhhh Ava, they aren't related-" 

Zane spoke up. "Actually Claptrap, that's me brother." 

"WHAT?" Claptrap looked absolutely shocked. "BUT HE WAS SUCH AN ASSHOLE?" 

"Yup, that's me brother all right. Used to bully me when we were younger." 

Claptrap seemed to tremble and said, "He used to torture me for hours with "games" like dodge the blowtorch!" 

"Yeah, me too." 

Ava's mouth hung wide open. "You know that's pretty messed up, right?" 

"Er. I guess. Never gave it much thought." Zane rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "It was considered normal on Pandora but, once I left, I realized what's normal on Pandora is pretty messed up everywhere else." 

Claptrap started crying. "I'm sorry! Also we are friends now." Claptrap reached over the table and hugged Zane who could only sigh at how dramatic Claptrap was. 

"Its fine, boyo. I'm sorry me brother did that to you." Which made Claptrap cry even harder. 

"I'm sorry about what he did to you. Nobody should've had to go through that." Ava said, softly. 

Oh fuck. This was getting to uncomfortable for Zane's taste. He felt tears and anger well up and decided to leave before they surfaced. "Oh, uh, look at the time it looks like I gotta be somewhere." 

"Huh? But you said you were taking a break today, minion!" 

"I know but something's come up, I gotta go." Zane stood up abruptly and left. He'll pay Moxxi later. 

Zane walked into his room and locked the door. Memories of his childhood threatened to bubble to the surface. It's fine, it's fine, it was so long ago, right? It doesnt matter. Does it? Zane sat down on his bed and scrolled the echo net again, trying to get his mind off of it. He spent so long thinking his childhood was fine and not really thinking much of what his brothers did. Ugh, maybe he really should go check out the Splinterlands, take his mind off of things. 

Zane heard a knock on his door. What now? He got up to answer it and outside was Moze. "Hey, Zane. Did you wanna come to the Splinterlands with me?" 

"Y'know I'd love to but I have to see a guy about a dolphin and a rocket launcher-" 

"Look I overheard the conversation you had with Clap-" 

Zane closed the door and groaned. Zane could hear Moze through the door. "Look, we don't have to talk about it. I just. I feel better when I'm down and someones there with me. Maybe we can like, shoot some bandits and just hangout?" 

"...Fine." Zane opened the door and stepped out. "Can we check out that roller coaster out in the Splinterlands too? Heard theres one o' them red chests there." 

"Sure thing." They walked to the fast travel station together. 

While there, Moze digistructed a green technical and hopped in. Zane hopped into the gunners seat and grabbed the controls. Moze hit the gas and headed in the direction of the roller coaster. Zane started flinging barrels at any bandits they passed on the road, which was alot. They were about halfway to the roller coaster and could even see it in the distance when Moze saw a bandit technical and switched courses to go chase after it. She was firing at it with the machine guns while Zane tried and failed to hit them with the barrels. He wasn't close enough to get a good hit on them yet. Moze seemed to realize this and stopped shooting so she could focus on using the speedboost. Soon Zane was in range and hit them with a couple of barrels and BOOM. "Ha! My sister always loved a good explosion! Probably a Flynt thing." One of the tires rolled away from the now charred remains of the enemy technical. 

Moze laughed and started driving back to where the rollercoaster should be. When they got close Zane could see some bandits walking about. "Looks like we'll have to fight our way in." 

"That's cool with me." Moze replied. 

"Just making sure lass." 

Moze stopped the technical close to the entrance. She jumped out of the drivers set and pulled out a gun. Zane hopped down from the gunners seat and joined her. They started climbing the stairs to the top. The whole place was built ontop of a hill, with various building sized crates and scaffolding scattered about. There were a few bandits here and there but not as much as Zane was expecting. They easily dispatched them and continued their way up. Soon they arrived to a building at the top which seemed to be where to get on the roller coaster. "So, you said something about a red chest?" 

"Yep, I heard bandits on the echonet say if you hit all the targets on the ride theres a secret red chest. Wanna try?" Zane offered. 

"Sure, let's do this." Moze said, heading towards one the roller coaster cars. "Hey, theres four of them. Maybe we can all go together sometime." 

"That'd be nice for another day off." Zane said while sliding into the car behind her. Once they were both situated Zane shot the target that starts the ride. The coaster started going upwards and Zane saw the first target. He fired a shot and just barely got it. 

The track curved downwards and to the left and soon the next target was in sight. Moze hit this one with her shotgun. "Bullseye!" After a while of going up and down they spotted the next target. They shot it at the same time. 

Soon the track lead them back down again. The track kept turning to the left in a big circle when Zane saw the last target, which he shot. "Hell yeah!" The cart went for one final loop before it ended up back at the start. Zane got out of the cart and noticed the nearby door unlocked. He walked over and saw the red chest inside. "Well, what would ya know, it was true!" He pressed the button on the front and it opened up. Inside were a couple purple weapons and a legendary grenade mod. Moze walked up and joined him. 

"Wow, didn't think it would actually be here." 

Zane turned to her and asked, "Did ya want the grenade mod, lass?" 

"Sure but keep the rest." Moze snatched up the grenade mod and put it in her storage deck for now. 

Zane and Moze headed back down to the technical. They drove around shooting bandits until the sun started to set. They drove back to the fast travel station and headed to Sanctuary for the night. As soon as he got there Zane immediately headed to his room and closed the door. He needed some rest. He took of his boots and jacket just as he realized he left all his stuff in Fl4k's room. He groaned and started putting his boots back on. He walked over to their room and knocked on the door. 

"Hello?" 

"Hey Fl4k, it's me." 

"Oh, just a moment." A moment later the door opened, and Fl4k welcomed him inside. Zane walked in and debated whether to take his stuff back to his room or sleep over for the night again. 

"Would ya mind me staying over again?" Zane asked somewhat hesitantly. 

"Its really no problem, Zane. You can sleep with me anytime." Fl4k happily announced, seemingly not realizing the connotations of what they just said. 

"...You do know how that sounds, right, Fl4k?" Zane asked. 

"What do you mean?" 

"...Nevermind, I suppose." Zane sighed, hoping the darkness of the room would hide the blush on his face. He walked over to their bed and laid down. He could hear Broodless make a chirping sound in her sleep. The sounds their beasts made were kind of calming, in a weird way. 

Fl4k sat down and started charging themself like the night before. Zane could see their face illuminated in the dark by the glow of their echo device. He could make out the lines of the metal plating there, as well as a large gash in the metal near their eye. Their eye was partially closed, a sliver of green staring down at their echo. 

Soon Zane drifted off into a dreamless sleep

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not super relevant yet but this takes place after Maya's. Y'know. It's mostly gonna focus on sidequests and stuff.


	3. Maliwan

Zane woke up, thankfully with no alarm this time. Fl4k was sitting down at their desk, working on something Zane couldn't see. Zane sat up in their bed and looked around the room. He wasnt prepared to see Fl4k naked. Or at least half naked? Their coat was laid out on their desk while Fl4k was only wearing pants. They held a needle and thread in their hand, and was neatly stitching a hole closed. Zane immediately looked away and was blushing furiously. Was being seen half-naked when you're a robot weird? Is this weird or is it him making this weird? 

He took a deep breath and thought for a second. Most other robots dont wear clothes so either it's not weird or every other robot in the galaxy is weird. 

Fl4k finally looked up from their work desk. "Ah, Zane, you're awake." They said before adding, "I was wondering if you would like to come with me to Moxxi's later. Amara and Moze want to meet up and talk about our next mission." 

"Uh-huh, yeah sounds great." Zane still didnt look at Fl4k. 

"...Are you okay? Your face is oddly red." 

"Yep, yep, totally fine." This is fine. 

Fl4k sat there and thought for a moment. "Oh. Is this because humans are weird about seeing each others flesh? I assure you that nothing... scandalous is showing. I'll be done in a moment as well." 

That... did slightly reassure Zane. He finally looked at them. Their frame was large but thin, the yellow paint was striking compared to the cold grays of the ship. They looked beautiful. While Fl4k did say that nothing was... showing, it was still weird to see them without their jacket. Soon they were slipping it back on while saying, "Mr.Chew lived up to his name and chewed open a hole in my jacket..." Mr.Chew jumped up excitedly at the sound of his name and started spinning happily. 

"What a little rascal." Zane got up and walked over to Mr. Chew so he could pet him. When Zane started petting him Broodless came up and nudged his leg. "Aww, are you jealous?" Zane leaned down and pet her too. After a couple seconds, Meat-thief and ION Loader came for pets too. Zane was absolutely surrounded by pets and was trying his best to pet them all. The only two who weren't here were those two Rakk. They didn't stay in Fl4k's room and Zane honestly had no clue where they went once combat was over. 

"How odd. Meat-thief barely likes anyone other than me." Fl4k stated. 

"Aww yer making me feel special." Zane scratched the top of Meat-thiefs head. "I've been wondering, actually. How did he get the name Meat-thief?" 

"It was back when I only had Mr.Chew and Broodless. I made camp so that they could rest, and I put out bowls of meat for them to eat as well. I had my back turned for a second and when I turned back around, he was stealing the meat from their bowls." Fl4k paused. "Honestly, I probably would've scared him away if I didn't notice he wasn't capable of hunting for himself. He was smaller than average for a Jabber, at the time at least, and his eyes were milky white. He was blind in both eyes and couldn't really hunt for himself. I decided to bring him in, and made a visor for him that allowed him to see." 

"Huh, did ya make all their prosthetics yourself?" Zane asked. 

"Yes, I've also had to replace parts of myself from time to time." They replied. Zane figured that made sense, a lot of their clothes and other belongings were stitched together and repaired. 

"Yer oddly good at fixing things. And destroying them." 

"Thank you, it's a gift." Fl4k said, half joking. "I also love reassembling the skeletons of my enemies once I've removed them." 

"I've done that a few times. Never as fun as taking em apart in the first place, if you ask me." 

"To each their own. We should probably be going soon, Moze and Amara are probably wondering where we are." Fl4k said as they went over to Zane and shooed away their pets. 

"Finally, I'm free! Honestly, my arms were getting kind of tired." Zane said before they both headed out the door. 

"Is it because you're old?" Fl4k asked while they walked. 

"Oh, fuck off. I'm not that old." 

"If you have to say you're not that old you're definitely that old." Fl4k said, smugly. 

"Alright smartass, how old are you?" 

"...I'm not answering that." Fl4k said, which intrigued Zane. 

"Why? Oh god, please dont tell me we've been bringing a child into comba-" 

"I am not a child, I was programmed and brought into this world as a grown adult. If you must know, I've had self awareness for 23 years." 

"Thank god. Wait, how long have you been around before then though?" Zane asked right as they walked into Moxxi's. 

"I... am not answering that." 

"Answering what?" Moze asked. 

"How old Fl4k is." Zane said. 

"It... does not matter. We should be talking about the mission." Fl4k said. 

"...Have we been bringing a child into co-" Amara started asking before getting interrupted. 

"No! Ugh, fine. If you all must know, I stopped counting my age a bit after I turned 100. Which was a while ago." Fl4k finally admitted. 

"Holy shit. If I had a nickel for every old as fuck person in this group, I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot, but it's weird that there's two of them." Moze joked. 

"You're making fun of me for being old when you're double, maybe even triple my age?" Zane asked, pretending to be more offended than he actually was. 

"Age doesnt affect robots like it does huma-" 

"Yer still old." Zane said, with Moze and Amara nodding in agreement. 

"...Can we please talk about the mission?" Fl4k asked. 

"Fine, but we're taking you whenever we go shopping for the seniors discount." Amara said, laughing. 

"I.... dont think robots get senior discounts? Also does Zane not get that?" Fl4k asked. 

"I'M ONLY 53." Replied Zane. 

"Only?" Moze asked, before laughing. 

"Okay, for real though, we should be focusing on our next mission." Amara said. "I've been in contact with Lorelei, he wants us to help him take out some of the Maliwan around town. Even though we killed Katagawa they won't leave without a fight." 

"That seems like a simple job. Any specific locations?" Fl4k asked. 

"Not really, other than he wants someone to kill their new Gigamind. It's a bit stronger than the last one." Amara replied. 

"Sounds good with me. When are we heading out?" Zane asked. 

Moxxi walked by the table and put down two plates of food and two cups of coffee. 

"After breakfast." Moze replied. "Me and Amara already ordered but we can wait for you to be done." 

Zane placed his order while Fl4k went to their room to go get one of their pets. 

After ten minutes Fl4k came back with Meat-thief in tow. Everyone was almost done eating as well. Soon they all headed to the fast travel station. They fast travelled to the Meridian Metroplex where Lorelei was waiting. 

"Hey, ya made it! I was thinking we head off in groups of two. I'm bringing Zer0 with me, and you guys can just echo us if you need any help and we'll be there as quick as we can." Lorelei said. 

"Sounds good to me. I'll join up with Amara." Moze said. 

"I'll go with Zane." Fl4k said as they leant down to pet Meat-thief. 

"Another thing, I already told Amara but Maliwan started setting up a new Gigamind, it's even in the same place as last time. Who wants to go take it out?" Lorelei asked. 

"I wouldn't mind fighting it again." Zane said. 

"Okay, Zer0 and I will hop on a runner and chase down any Maliwan we see." Lorelei responded. 

Moze turned to Amara and said, "We should go to the Halcyon space port. Lots of Maliwan are there, and it's pretty close to where Gigamind is, just in case." 

"Sounds like a plan." Amara replied. 

Everyone got geared up and headed for the Catch-a-ride. Lorelei digistructed a pink and blue runner which he and Zer0 got in. Amara digistructed her favorite pink technical again. Zane digistructed a light blue runner and climbed into the drivers seat. Fl4k got into the gunners seat while Meat-thief was sitting on their shoulder. The sound of engines soon filled Watershed base and everyone drove off. 

Zane sped down the roads, only turning off the boost to turn. They got there quickly, and Zane hopped out of the runner just outside the Rise and Grind coffeehouse. Fl4k and Meat-thief followed him. "This'll be a walk in the park." Zane said confidently. 

The hole in the wall Zer0 made was still there, and they both walked through it and up the stairs. Gigamind was already waiting for them. 

It took them maybe 10 seconds to kill it again. Loot, including several legendaries, fell to the ground. "Hardly a challenge." Fl4k said, sounding disappointed. 

"Maybe we ought to catch up to the others and see if they need any help. Honestly, a Heavy would offer more of a challenge than Gigamind at this point." Zane said. "Well, at least theres loot." Zane kneeled down and started sorting through it. 

"I suppose." 

"I think I found something you'd like." Zane said while holding out a stuffed Skag keychain. He knew Fl4k liked turning them into class mods. 

"Ah, thank you. If I find one for your drone I'll pass it to you." Fl4k took it from him, their fingers momentarily touching. "Even if the fight wasn't challenging, I commend your skill. I hope we can find a tougher enemy soon." 

Zane picked up a legendary and put it in his SDU. "At least we got loot and we're gonna get paid. Hey, wanna see me dropkick Gigamind's brain?" 

"...Only if I can later." 

"Sure thing!" Zane drop kicked the brain and it only went twenty meters. Meat-thief chased after it and started chewing on it. 

"Meat-thief, n-..." Fl4k sighed. "He ate it in three seconds." 

"So, someone broke a record today and it wasn't even me. Gotcha." Zane said. 

"At least you got to dropkick a brain today." 

"There'll be more brains to drop kick later, if I find one I'll bring it." Zane said. Meat-thief came back with his mouth covered in blood. He climbed onto Fl4k and stared at Zane. "Hey there little fella." Zane walled over so he could reach out and pet him. He made a purring sound. 

"We should start walking back to the runner. Would you like coffee before we leave? That coffeehouse is nearby." Fl4k asked. 

"Aw, you asking me out on a little date?" Zane asked, jokingly. 

"Perhaps." 

"Wait, what?" 

"I am joking." 

"Okay, right, sure, of course." Zane said, face starting to turn pink. 

They walked back to the coffeeshop. Zane took a moment to look at the menu. Looks like they finally started selling travel mugs, so they won't have to go kill a Maliwan guy for his mug again. Zane ordered a mug and a arcturian superblack. He sat down with Fl4k at a table. "I cannot eat or drink but I have wondered, what does coffee taste like?" Fl4k asked. 

"Eh, mostly bitter? Most people add stuff to make it taste better. I don't though, it doesn't bother me." Zane said. He felt kind of guilty for sitting here and drinking coffee while the others were working. 

"Interesting. What about tea?" 

"Also bitter but not as bad, especially for some kinds." 

Fl4k paused as if thinking. "For a while, seeing humans eat and drink bothered me." 

"Huh? Why?" Zane asked. 

"Back when I was... back when I was an indexing unit I was also expected to prepare and bring food to the Grand Archivist. I was programmed to serve and organize and help. When I gained sentience it angered me. That I was forced to do that for so long and I just accepted it. There was so many things in life I missed out on. I spent so much time preparing food that I could never experience myself and now it just... reminds me of him. Of being a servant. It's not as bad as what most of you went through but-" 

"...Look, don't worry about it, I get ya. I can't look at blowtorches without thinking of me brother." Zane reassured them. 

"That... seems like an odd connection?" Fl4k asked, confused. 

"He used to make me dodge the fire from a blowtorch. He did that until I moved out at 20. Got the burn scars to prove it." Zane said. 

"...That's horrible. I'm sorry he did that to you. Maybe we should kick his ass." 

Zane laughed. "Too late, from what I've heard Maya and the other vault hunters got him a while back." 

"Piss on his grave, got it." 

"Not sure you're capable of that." Zane said, laughing still. He felt better, honestly. 

"Hold Meat-thief up to the grave and have him piss on it, got it." Fl4k said, also laughing. 

Another moment passed before Zane asked, "So this Grand Archivist fella. Was he a jerk to ya?" 

"Not... really, but I associate him with how I used to be. Mindless, unable to feel anything. Being forced by coding to do whatever he asked. Once I left I started to resent him. And other humans, honestly. Before I met you and the other Crimson Raiders, I didn't trust many people." 

"Well, I'm glad your comfortable around us. Once you've had some bad experiences with people it's hard to trust again. I'm still struggling with that." 

"I always thought you were good with people." Fl4k said. 

"Sort of? I mean, interacting with them yeah. But I've never gotten super close with anyone in a long while. Each time I open up I'm afraid and try to stop it from happening. Honestly this is the most I've done it in... ever." Zane confessed. 

"...I think I understand. Perhaps it's because we fight together so often that you're so comfortable around me." 

"Maybe. Thanks for the talk." 

Soon Moze and Amara showed up, covered in blood. Moze stared at them, mouth ajar. "WE'VE BEEN FIGHTING THIS WHOLE TIME WHY ARE YOU GETTING COFFE-" 

"Just taking a break, dont worry! Just about finished anyway. Also Gigamind's dead." Zane said in between the last sips of coffee. 

"Okay, fine, but I'm ordering some too." Moze said, before walking up to the shop with Amara. After they ordered they sat at the same table they were at. "Wait, are you two on a date?" 

"No, but I think this did turn into an impromptu therapy session." Fl4k replied. 

"And earlier it was an impromptu brain dropkicking session." Zane said. 

"...Really?" Moze asked, annoyed. 

"...To be fair, dropkicking brains is fun." Amara said. 

"Sorry, won't happen again. Hopefully. Me and Fl4k will head over to entrance to Electra city. There's always Maliwan troops there." Zane said. 

"Okay, sounds good. Except the hopefully part." Amara replied. 

"We'll be off. See you two." Fl4k said before jumping into the gunners seat again. Zane got into the drivers seat and headed for their destination. On their way there they saw Zer0 and Lorelei chasing down enemy Cyclones and blowing them up. Zane waved at them as he drove by. They waved back at him. 

When they arrived to their destination they both got out and immediately went up the stairs. There were crates and containers everywhere, as well as Maliwan troops. Fl4k turned invisible while Meat-thief shot at them. Zane deployed his drone and dropped a barrier. Zane shot a Maliwan flashtrooper in the head, freezing them. Meat-thief was smart enough to shatter them. Zane could hear a shot here and there from Fl4k, who was still cloaked. Zane was busy shooting at a heavy and didn't notice the flash trooper behind him. A third shot rang out and Fl4k appeared behind the trooper, their invisibility having gone away with their third shot. The trooper dropped dead. Zane finally looked over. "Oh, thanks, didnt notice the bugger." Zane yelled out over the sound of gunfire. 

"It's not a problem." Fl4k yelled back before pulling out their sniper rifle and backing away slowly to put more distance between them and the Maliwan troops. Zane's barrier fizzled out and he started backing off a little too. 

Soon Fl4k recloaked and brought out their pistol again. Zane stayed back until his barrier recharged, but shot any Maliwan that came into view. Soon there were barely any enemies left. Zane heard gunfire from Fl4k but couldn't see them. Their third shot rang out and a heavy dropped dead. As they decloaked a riot trooper rushed them from behind. Zane ran over, shot at the trooper and stabbed them threw the back with his laser claw. Fl4k turned around and looked at him. As Zane took out his claws, blood spurted out from the wound. "Well, looks like that's all of them." 

"Yes. It's nice to have someone watch your back... thank you. We should head back to Amara and Moze." Fl4k said. "Oh, and here. That heavy dropped this." They handed a decorative case for Zane's drone to him. 

"Awesome! Can't wait to mod this." Zane said, putting it away in his SDU. 

The sun started to set as they drove back to the Rise and Shine coffeehouse. Moze and Amara were still there, and Zer0 and Lorelei had showed up at some point as well. "You guys finally finished your jobs?" Moze asked. 

"Hey, we killed Gigamind before this!" Zane argued. 

"And then took a coffee break." Amara replied. 

"... Fair point." Zane said. 

"Well, at least the job is done. I already sent the money to your accounts." Lorelei replied. 

"Lorelei gets mad./ Without coffee before work./ He understands them." Zer0 said while flashing a smiling emoticon on their helmet. Lorelei laughs a little at that and jokingly punches their arm. 

"So, we heading home soon?" Zane asked. 

"Yeah, let's all go together. My technical has enough space." Amara offered. 

Soon they were headed back to the fast travel station as well as Sanctuary. Moze and Amara retired to their rooms while Zane immediately went with Fl4k to theirs. He collapsed on the bed and pulled out his echo. Fl4k started charging themself as usual. "Hey, Zane?" Fl4k suddenly asked. 

"Yeah, what's up?" Zane asked. 

"I... feel like I should've been more up front about this but... one of the reasons I asked you to sleepover was because I get these.... thoughts and memories of my past that won't leave. It's easier to not think of it when you're here." Fl4k said, almost reluctantly. 

"Well, I'm here for the same reason. The nightmares and the memories. We're friends, it's fine. I wouldn't sleep here if I didn't want to." Zane said. 

"...Good. Thank you." Fl4k said, their lower lid raised as if they were smiling. "Goodnight." 

"Goodnight." Zane said, yawning. Soon he drifted off to sleep.


	4. Rumors

A couple days have passed since they went to Promethea. Zane woke up to the alarm he had set the night before. Him and Fl4k had a talk about the alarm thing and they just set one on Zane's echo instead of both. Zane got up and stretched. Amara said they were going to Atlas for a job. While Zane got ready for the day, Fl4k was feeding and, in the case of ION Loader, charging their pets. 

When they were ready to go, Zane and Fl4k left the room together. As they left a random guy saw them. His eyes shot wide open and ran away. "That's... not a good sign." Zane said. 

"What's not?" Fl4k asked. 

"They're probably gonna think we're uh. Together." Zane said. 

"Together?" Fl4k stopped walking and thought for a moment. "Oh, sexually? If any rumors start I will simply kill them." Fl4k joked. 

"The rumors or the people?" Zane asked, laughing a little. 

"Both." They raised their lower eyelid as if smiling again. They both started walking again, both of them not really bothered by what people might think. Though Zane could imagine Moze and Amara making fun of him and it'd be weird because he actually was interested in Fl4k. 

Soon Zane and Fl4k showed up at Moxxi's. "Woah, rough night?" Moze asked. 

"Screw you, I've been getting plenty o' sleep lately!" Zane said. 

"I'm talking about Fl4k." Moze clarified. 

Zane turned to look at Fl4k. He hadn't really noticed but they looked tired. Their jacket was hanging off their body at an odd angle, their eye kept dimming and then brightening again like an electronic device that was struggling to stay on, and their voice seemed more gruff and tired than usual. 

"I... haven't really been sleeping lately." Fl4k answered. 

"Wait, I thought you said you didnt NEED to sleep?" Zane asked, worry evident in his voice. He hoped he hadn't stopped them from sleeping. 

"I do not need the amount of sleep a human needs. You all lay prone for eight hours while I only need to enter sleep mode for fifteen minutes and I'm good to go for three days. It... has been longer than that though. I can probably still fight but my performance won't exactly be perfect." Fl4k answered, rubbing at their eye. 

"And when was the last time you slept?" Amara asked. 

Fl4k was silent for a while before answering, "...A week ago?" 

"WHAT?" Moze shouted more than asked. "You need to go to sleep now, Fl4k. You said it yourself, going without affects your performance. You're not only putting yourself at risk but everyone else too. Rhys said the mission for today can wait, if we were too busy. I'll echo him and tell him we can't go." 

Zane figured that them not having slept explained a lot yesterday. They rarely ever let anyone sneak up behind then like what happened with the riot trooper yesterday. That was more of a Zane thing. Ya just can't fight, shit-talk the enemy, and watch your back all at the same time. 

"You don't have to-" Fl4k started saying but stopped when their eye started dimming again. Zane briefly wondered if that affected their vision. 

"Nope, we have to. If any of us aren't feeling well it puts us all at risk. I wouldn't trust Zane if he hadn't slept in a couple days." Amara said which caused Zane to go uncomfortably silent. 

"He was like that for a while, recently." Fl4k argued, gesturing to Zane. 

"We know, but that's why we've tried to keep him out of combat lately. Well, minus yesterday but that's because he seemed better." Amara said. 

"Oh, you mean before, at the Honeywells?" Zane asked. 

"Yeah, pretty much. Then you seemed to be getting more sleep but STILL slacked on the job." Moze said, annoyed. 

"Sorry, sorry. At least we took turns taking a break, right?" Zane said. 

"I guess. Anyways, Fl4k, you should try and get some sleep. It's for the good of the group." Moze said. 

"I do not know if I will be able to fall asleep any time soon." Fl4k responded. 

"At least try, okay? We'll take the whole day off, just in case." Amara said. "We don't want to see you get hurt." 

"...I understand. I'll try." Fl4k responded. 

"Alright, so we're having a break day?" Zane asked. 

"Yes but tomorrow we have a job for Rhys." Amara said. 

Fl4k walked out of the bar and back to their room. Moze and Amara soon followed. Zane stayed long enough to order and eat breakfast before following Fl4k back to their room. 

Inside Fl4k was sitting at their chair, attempting to sleep but obviously failing. Zane walked over and asked quietly, "I think your bed might help you sleep more than that chair. Did ya wanna go over there instead?" 

"I do not need to lay down to sleep." Fl4k replied. 

"You can just sit on it. It's more comfortable than your chair." 

"... Okay." Fl4k got up and went over sat down on their bed but still seemed restless. They tried to keep their eyes closed but reopened them after a couple seconds. 

Zane sighed a little and sat down beside them. "I know how hard it is to sleep. If you want you can rest your head on my shoulder if ya want. Might help ya relax." Zane offered. 

Fl4k leaned over and rest their head on Zane. He could hear muffled sounds of their internal gears and other components moving, as well as muffled "Thank you." Soon the sounds coming from Fl4k slowed and their closed eye showed just a sliver of the color orange. 

Zane just sat there, waiting. Fl4k was surprisingly warm, like a laptop that's been on for too long, and their jacket was soft. He idly wondered if robots oversleep if they haven't slept in a while, similar to humans. He brought out his echo, making sure not to disturb Fl4k. Upon further research, they do. He wondered how long this would take but figured his crush leaning on them while sleeping wasn't the worst way to spend the morning. Zane just scrolled his echo feed for about an hour and a half before Fl4k stirred again. "H...how long was I out for?" Fl4k asked, groggily. 

"Bout an hour and a half. Sounds like you really needed the sleep." Zane said, still staring at his echo. 

"...Thank you for staying." Fl4k said. "I didn't have any dreams." 

"You've done the same for me this whole time." Zane said. He put away his echo. Fl4k lifted their head off his shoulder and sat up. "If ye ever need to do this again just ask." Zane said. 

"I wouldn't like to inconvenience you." 

"Well I've been sleeping in your bed this whole time. I don't mind doing this." Zane countered. 

"...Thank you." Fl4k said. They stood up, still somewhat groggy from sleeping, and pulled out their echo to call Moze. "Hello, Moze. I have managed to sleep." 

"Oh, that's good. I thought it would take you longer." Moze paused for a moment. "So, when were you gonna tell me you and Zane were together?" 

"...What?" Fl4k asked, still half asleep. "Oh, wait. That guy... right. Zane and I are not dating but we have been having... what's the term that doesn't imply anything sexual? Sleepovers? It's sleepovers, right?" Fl4k asked before adding. "I said I was sleeping with Zane once to Moxxi and she was surprised and asked if I knew the meaning of that. I did not, at the time. Then she explained it to me and I felt... cringe." 

Moze laughed on the other line. "Oh my god, I'm sorry. I keep forgetting you don't understand stuff like that. Oh my god." Moze wouldn't stop laughing. Soon she called Amara over and explained the situation to her. 

"Oh, that explains it. I thought you two were actually together when I heard people talking about it." Amara said. "Should've taken that with a grain of salt. Wait, Fl4k, do you even swing that way?" 

"Swing that way?" Fl4k asked, looking and sounding genuinely confused. 

"Uh... are you into men?" Amara asked, remembering they didn't really understand metaphors. 

"Gender is irrelevant to me when it comes to romantic feelings." Fl4k said. 

"Yeah, that makes sense." Amara responded. 

Moze spoke up, "Well, me and Amara got some stuff to take care of. Mostly around Sanctuary. See you two later." 

"See you." Fl4k replied, with Moze hanging up shortly after. 

Amara and Moze probably didn't expect Fl4k to actually fall asleep so early. Then again, they probably wouldn't have if Zane didn't force them to go to sleep. 

"Well, it's good to know Moxxi didn't start that rumor." Zane said. 

"She is very chill about that sort of thing." Fl4k responded. 

"That's true." Zane said before he sighed a little. "I just remembered I have a echo call with one o' my family members tomorrow." 

"Are they... chill?" Fl4k asked. 

"Well he hasn't tried to kill me at any point, so, yeah." Zane said. "He's my nephew. His mom died a while back, and he lives on his own here in Pandora. We're both pretty busy but we try an talk once a month, at least. Not a lot of our family is still alive." 

"I have no biological family, but I understand the importance of family." Fl4k said, picking up Broodless and petting her. "I consider my pack family." 

"I really don't wanna miss the call. I guess I can talk to him before the mission." Zane said. 

"And maybe after the mission as well." Fl4k offered. 

"Yeah, hopefully. Depends on how long it takes." Zane said as he got up. "I think I'm gonna head to Marcus's store soon. I wanna stock up for our next job." 

"Could you pick me up some ammo as well?" Fl4k asked, and handed him some money. 

"Sure thing. I'll be back soon." Zane said, grabbing the money and leaving the room. Several people stared at him on the walk over to Marcus's. That rumor spread pretty fast, it seems. 

When he got to the shop it was, thankfully, empty except for Marcus. Zane walked over to the ammo vending machine and bought enough for him and Fl4k for tomorrow. He also looked at the SDUs, and decided to treat himself to a backpack upgrade. "SDU, stands for super super useful! I installed it when you weren't looking." Marcus said from his counter. 

Zane thanked him and then looked at the gun vending machine. Nothing really caught his eye so he just bought a white rarity gun so Marcus wouldn't get mad at him. "See ya later, Marcus." 

Zane stopped by Moxxi's again before heading back to drop off the ammo. He sat down at the counter and ordered a beer. 

"How have you been holding up, sugar? Heard the rumors floating around." Moxxi asked as she prepared his drink. 

"Eh, it's kind of annoying but I'll deal with it." Zane replied. 

"That's good. Fl4k told me you were sleeping together and I knew they didn't have a good grasp on metaphors and euphemisms, at least, not yet." Moxxi laughed before adding, "I didn't believe that rumor for a second." 

"Heh, yeah. I've been sleeping over at their place and when they first asked they phrased it that way too. Figured out they meant literally sleeping together pretty quick. I doubt they'd even like someone like me." Zane said, somewhat sadly, before he laughed it off. Moxxi passed him the beer. 

"Aw, you like them?" Moxxi asked, smiling. Zane didn't answer, and just drank his beer. Moxxi laughed and smirked, knowing she was right. "My lips are sealed, sugar." 

Zane ended up knocking back a couple of beers and hanging out at the bar for a while. Before he knew it, it was getting late and he was already pretty drunk. Zane figured it was time to head back to Fl4k's place. When Zane got up he felt dizzy and was struggling to stand up straight. He managed to walk back to their room without tripping, at least. "Hey, I've got the ammo for tomorrow's mission." Zane said as he entered, wobbling slightly. Fl4k was at their desk, working on the spare leg for Broodless. 

"Thank you, just put mine down on my desk somewhere." Fl4k responded, not really looking up from their work. Zane put it down near the corner, close enough for them to reach but not too close to what they were working on. Zane walked, somewhat clumsily, to the bed. He almost tripped right and he reached the bed. Fl4k finally looked up from their work. "...Are you okay, Zane?" 

"Yeah, yeah. Just uh. A little drunk. It's fine." Zane said. 

"...Are you going to be okay tomorrow?" 

"Huh? Why wouldn't I be?" Zane asked. 

"Well, judging by how inebriated you are, you will likely have a massive hangover tomorrow." Fl4k said, getting up from their chair. They brought their echo in out. "I will search up how to help. I shall be back." Fl4k added before leaving. 

Zane laid down on the bed and sighed. He really screwed up. He rested his eyes a moment. 

When he opened his eyes again, Fl4k was staring at him "Ah, you're awake now. I have procured items that will help. Sit up." Fl4k said. Zane sat up in the bed and saw Fl4k had a glass of water. Zane took it from them and drank from it. "I can pass you pain relievers in the morning. I heard food also helps, so here." Fl4k passed him a piece of toast and took back the, now empty, glass. 

Zane grabbed it and took a bite out of it. "Thank you. I'm sorry fer this." Zane said, not really looking at them. He sighed. "Usually I can control myself better." 

Fl4k let out a little sigh. "I have dealt with hungover humans before, and while I do not enjoy doing it, I care for you. I do not want to see you suffer, so please try not to do this again." 

"...Gotcha." Zane said. When he was done eating he laid back down and sighed. Tomorrow was gonna suck. Right as he fell asleep, Fl4k reached over and pulled up the blanket so it covered Zane. 

"Goodnight." Fl4k said, quietly. Upon realizing Zane was asleep, they whispered something no one would hear. "Why did I catch feelings for someone so... reckless." Fl4k sighed quietly before sitting down at their chair. They plugged themself in and started scrolling the echonet like they do every night.


	5. Ratch'd Up

When his alarm rang, Zane woke up sore and with a pounding headache. He groaned as he got up. As soon as Fl4k walked over they passed him a pain reliever and a glass of water. Zane took the pill immediately and thanked them. "You... really didn't have to do this, y'know." Zane said. 

"I must make sure you are all in good shape. We all depend on one another in combat." Fl4k said. 

"That's true. Thank ye again. I really appreciate it." Zane said as he got out of bed. He finished the last of the water as well. "We got a job today, right. Well, let's get this over with." Zane said, getting ready for the day. 

Fl4k walked over to Broodless and told her to follow them. She stomped her feet happily and went with them. 

Zane and Fl4k both walked over to Moxxi's, and got there before Moze and Amara did. They say down at the usual booth and waited. Zane ordered himself breakfast, some coffee, and some water. Fl4k ordered exactly one egg, uncooked, for Broodless. Upon passing her the egg, she stomped her feet happily and ate it in one bite. Soon Moze and Amara showed up and ordered breakfast as well. "Okay, so Rhys didn't tell us exactly what the mission was. He was mostly yammering on about how messy the Atlas headquarters were before he asked if we were up for a job. When I said yes he immediately hung up." Moze said. 

"Yeah, that sounds like Rhys." Amara replied. 

"Eh, I'm not to worried about it. We already fought off Maliwan for him, I doubt it's gonna be that hard." Zane said. 

"There isn't many things harder than fighting off a giant corporation." Amara said. 

"I would like to drive today." Fl4k said. 

"We don't need to drive, there's a fast travel at the headquarters." Amara replied. 

"Oh okay, good. No one will drive. Especially not-." They stopped themself, thankfully. Zane didn't tell Moze and Amara about last night. Moze and Amara were staring at Fl4k before they continued to speak. "...Moze. She's just so good at shooting things in the gunner seat and I was just offering in case Amara didn't want to drive. It's fine." 

"Oh, well that's nice of you. I usually enjoy driving so don't worry about it." Amara said, confidently. 

Suddenly Zane's echo rang. He looked down and saw it was his nephew calling. "Oh crud. I need to take this. I'll be done before we leave." Zane said, getting up and abandoning his breakfast. 

Zane walked out of the bar before picking up. "Heyy, what's up, August?" He asked. 

"Nothin much. Same old, same old. How about you?" August asked. 

"Eh, been pretty busy. I didn't really bring it up the last time ye called but I started a new job." 

"I thought you retired?" August asked. 

"Well, I decided to lay low on Pandora and Pandora turned into tracking down a vault and then another vault and- it's just a whole thing. Sorry fer not telling you sooner but it's been crazy busy with this Calypso nonsense." Zane said. 

"I didn't even know you were back on Pandora! We should hang out sometime." August said before adding, "I opened up a vault once too. There was an epic fight where I took the controls of a giant robot and started boxing against the vault monster. Two people from my group were actually INSIDE the thing and blew it up from the inside. At one point my.... ex-girlfriend looked like she died after the explosion. She ended up being fine though." 

"Ya had a girlfriend? You?" Zane laughed at him. 

August let out an annoyed sigh. 

Zane stopped laughing when he realized August was still bitter about it. "I'm just pulling yer leg, I'm proud of you, really! Sorry about her being an ex though." 

"It's fine, I don't think it would've worked out in the long run, anyway." 

Soon the others were outside of the bar too. Zane figured he'd listen to August's tale August's when he opened a vault until they got to Rhys's office. It wasn't often they both had free time for a chat. Or, free enough, anyway. 

One ride on the fast travel later and they were outside the Atlas headquarters. There were still some damage leftover in the courtyard from the Maliwan attack, but it was way better than it was before. Soon enough they were in the elevator which lead up to Rhys' office. When they got to the top floor there were still dead Atlas soldiers in the lobby. "Damn, we fought off Katagawa a while ago. They still haven't cleaned up?" Moze asked. 

"I hope this job isn't about cleaning." Amara said, groaning. 

They all walked down the hallway which was softly illuminated by the surrounding fish tanks. When they finally got to Rhys' office he was waiting patiently behind his desk. "Hey, you guys made it! I can't find my janitor, Terry, anywhere. Can you look around for him? There's ratch everywhere and he's supposed to be getting rid of them." 

"Sure thing, Rhys." Moze said. 

Zane was still on the line with August, who immediately blurted out, "Wait, I know that voice. Rhys? The Hyperion guy? " 

"...August?" Rhys asked, surprised. 

"Ahhh, you two know each other then?" Zane asked. 

"Yeah, we opened the vault together! How ya been man?" August asked. 

"Uh, pretty good other than some job stuff but these guys sure helped. You?" 

"Things were a little rough when mom... y'know. But I got through it. You hear from Fiona and Sasha lately?" 

Rhys looked visibly saddened when he responded, "Not... really. I don't know where they went, in all honestly. Can't get into contact with them either." 

"I'm sorry to hear that, man. Hey, Zane, could ya pass my echo details to Rhys?" 

"Sure thing, boyo. I need ta hang up soon though, got a job to do." 

"Gotcha. Well, nice talking to both of you. Later." August hung up. 

"Wait, Rhys opened a vault?" Fl4k asked, looking genuinely surprised. 

"Look, that was a long time ago." Rhys stammered out. 

Moze started chanting, "ONE OF US, ONE OF US!" 

Amara and Fl4k started joining in on it when Rhys interrupted them. "Oh god, this is why I didnt tell you guys." Rhys groaned. "Look, vault hunters aren't... super well respected in my line of work, if this got out it could-" 

"Fine, we'll keep it a secret, but it is not something to be ashamed of." Fl4k states. 

Rhys let out a small sigh, "I'm not ashamed of it. Not really. Besides, my vault hunting days are behind me. I wasn't even that good at it..." 

"Well, you still managed ta open one, and that's gotta count for something, right?" Zane says, which the others nod in agreement to. 

Amara adds, "Most people don't ever get to see a vault." 

"I guess? Anyways, you guys better get started on that job." Rhys says. "You should check Terry's office, it's on the second floor." 

"Alrighty then, let's do this shite." Zane said, and started walking back to the elevator with the others. 

"Wait, do we have to take the elevator back down?" Fl4k asked, groaning. 

"Seems like it." Amara answered. 

"Ughh." Fl4k groaned but sti got in the elevator. "The Hunt gnaws at the back of my mind." 

"You can hunt all you want later, for now we have a job. Who knows, we might have to fight something anyways. Thus said there a bunch of ratch around, probably a ratch nest as well." Moze offered. 

"...That will suffice for now, I suppose." Fl4k said. 

When they got to the bottom floor they ended up having to go up some stairs to get to the second floor. They found Terry's office in a state of disarray, which was odd because he's a janitor. Rhys called Moze's echo and immediately chimed in, "Wow, Terry really lives like an animal. Maybe look around? Maybe he left like, a day planner or something. Not that he-" 

"We got this Rhys, don't worry." Moze said. 

"Hey, I think I found something." Fl4k said as they moved a large bottle of alcohol and revealed a button. They clicked it and the bookcase near the back of the room moved to reveal an entrance. 

"A secret door? Terry's a janitor why does he even need- y'know what? Don't answer that." Rhys said. 

The vault hunters walked into it, and inside was a laboratory. "Oh, this looks like one of the old skunkworks labs. I shut it down after all the accidents." After realizing how that sounds, Rhys quickly added, "Mostly papercuts, Promethea's healthcare system is a nightmare. It was just cheaper to shut it down. I'm gonna find one of those rubber papercut guards, be right back." 

"Hm, what's this?" Amara asked before picking up an echo recording. She blew into it and put it in her echo. It was a recording from Terry about his sick friend who he needed to save, and how he's going to take a echonet course to save him. "...Well, ominous secret lab, a guy trying to save his friend, him going missing, none of this is good sign." Amara said, sighing. 

"Look, there's a door to go deeper into the lab!" Moze said, opening it. 

A voice rang out, "Terry? Terry, is that you?" 

"...Where is that coming from?" Fl4k asked, looking around. They walked up to a nearby door. 

"Terry, I'm running out of food in here! Is that you? Let me out!" The voice said. 

"Oi, who's hiding in there? Are you being kept prisoner, or...?" Zane asked. 

"No, Terry put me in here to protect me! He said he'd let me out when the coast is clear, but it's been a while. Could you get me out of here? The door controls are on the other side of that glass!" 

Zane turned around and saw the controls. "Well, looks like if we go down this hallway we can reach the controls. Follow me!" Zane said. 

Upon turning the corner, ratch started crawling out of their hives and hissing at them. They were dealt with quickly, and everyone kept moving. Broodless took one of their corpses in her mouth and chewed on it on their way down the hallway. At the end there was another echo recording. Fl4k picked it up and started playing it.it was Terry again, this time he was saying that he needed specimens to do tests on for his course, but that he didn't know where to get brain samples from. Then he got an order to clear ratch nests from Rhys. "Ah. He must have been using the local ratch population for their brain samples. That explains why there's so many of them." 

"Wish I had some popcorn, this is getting interesting." Zane joked as he tried not to slip on some blood at the top of the stairs leading to the room where he saw the controls. Fl4k grabbed Zane's shoulder to help keep him steady. 

"This place is so gross. I can't believe this area has been here this whole time. Imagine working right under a ratch infestation." Moze said. 

"Ignorance is bliss." Amara replied. 

The room downstairs was absolutely swarming with ratch, and there was a big one stuck inside a cage. "Those ratch are crazy, you gotta kill them before you let me out!" 

There were ratch everywhere, and they were stronger than the ones they fought in the hallway. When Moze shot one with her pistol it sprayed a green liquid on her leg. "Yuck! I hate fighting ratch." Moze said, shooting at them with her pistol. "I can't even use my flakker here, at least not without hurting myself in the explosion." 

Zane threw out his drone before resuming firing at a ratch broodmother that had crawled out from somewhere. "Well, that would just spray you with even more ratch blood, so maybe that's a good thing." 

Fl4k disappeared, although gunfire could be heard from them here and there. Their third and final shot caused the broodmother to fall to the floor, dead. Their invisibility ended, and they backed away from everyone else, still shooting at the ratch. Broodless was having the time of her life, chewing on and killing ratch left and right. 

With every punch Amara's hands were covered more and more with green ratch blood. "I'm definitely gonna need a shower after this..." She said, groaning. 

Soon there were only a couple of ratch left. Broodless was busy chomping on the broodmother their owner killed. Zane kept shooting at a ratch but missed. The pain meds were starting to wear off and it was bothering him. He took a deep breath and finally shot it, killing it. Fl4k shot the last ratch with their pistol. 

"Okay, that's all of them. At least, all of them that weren't caged." Amara said, gesturing to the big one in the middle of the room. 

"I'M GOING TO WEAR YOUR MOTHER'S SKIN LIKE A KIMONO." The ratch in the cage said. 

"What. The. Actual. Fuck." Zane said. "Did that thing just speak?" 

"Oh god, did Terry put someone's brain into a RATCH?" Moze asked. 

"I... okay, this is fucked up. We really do need to free the guy in the closet, though. So I will... go do that." Fl4k said, before climbing the stairs to the controls. "Okay, here we go." They opened the door and out came... another ratch. 

"Oh wow, it feels so good to be out of there! Come say hi!" The ratch said, causing everyone to look over to where Fl4k was in shock. 

"You're... a ratch?" Fl4k asked, walking over to the ratch while looking confused. 

"Yeah, thanks to my main man Terry! He saved my life!" The ratch said. He started walking into the room the others were in when he saw the body on the floor. "Oh, no! Terry! They got him!" 

Zane walked up the stairs with Moze and Amara. "Okay, hold up. What the actual fuck is happening here?" He asked. 

"Terry saved me, he put in a ratch body! All the others were failed experiments. We gotta save him! The only way is to put his brain in a ratch body! I'll chew it out!" The ratch said before eating the entirety of Terry's body except for his brain. 

"This is... unsettling. Is this technically cannibalism?" Fl4k asked after the ratch ate Terry. 

"...That's what's weirding you out about this?" Moze asked. 

"Well, it's the thing weirding me out the most." Fl4k clarified. "He got turned into a ratch and then ate someone. That's weird in multiple ways." 

"Now grab his brain and follow me!" Zane picked up the brain and tried to resist the urge to dropkick it. "The brain transfer tank is downstairs! But Garry's cage is in the way... hey, Garry!" 

"I'M GOING TO EAT YOUR FACES." The giant ratch in the cage threatened. 

"Hahah, classic Gary, Maliwan war criminal. I'm pretty sure he ate people before he got turned into a ratch... flip that switch to drop his cage so we can get to the transfer tank!" 

Zane flipped the switch and the cage fell to the floor below. He and the others jumped down and started shooting at Gary. "I'LL GUZZLE YOUR SOUL MILK!" Gary screamed at them as he and some nearby ratch started attacking. 

There was enough space in the room that Moze summoned iron bear and hopped in. Moze shot him and the other ratch with a nuclear warhead from iron bear. When the dust settled they were all dead. "Score one for iron bear!" Moze said as she ejected herself. 

"Where's this brain transfer tank?" Zane asked. 

"It's just up ahead!" The ratch from upstairs said. 

Zane walked into the next room and saw some controls as well as a dead ratch in a tank. He saw two metal prongs on the controls and figured that's where he brain goes. "Just put the brain in there and flip that switch! Time lost is Terry lost!" 

"Just flipping a switch. Not like its brain surgery or anything." Zane said jokingly. Soon the tank glowed and the ratch body disappeared before it fell from a pipe in the ceiling. "Raghh... ra." 

"Terry, it's Glenn! You guys gotta remind him who he is!" 

Everyone looked at one another. Zane sighed and figured he ought to be the one to do it. "Okay, long story. You're a ratch now and you got to live with it. Get over it." 

"Ragh.... alive? Alive! Glenn, I'm alive! And I'm a ratch! You brought me back!" Terry said. 

"Yeah, we made it! Hey, rescuers, we got a present for you!" Glenn said, walking into the room, dragging gun in his mouth. "We can't use it because, well, no hands. But you guys look like you can use it!" Glenn said. Everyone but Fl4k seemed too disgusted to think about taking the gun so they just grabbed it for themself. 

"Hey guys I finally found the little rubber thing that goes on your thumb and you're not gonna believe where it- woah. Okay, talking ratch. I'm... just gonna look the other way. Plausible deniability. Uhmm. Come on back up for your payment and I... guess I'll go hire a new janitor." Rhys said. 

"Well, that was an experience." Fl4k said, putting their new weapon in their inventory. 

"I can't wait to get out of here." Moze said, already heading for the exit. Everyone else followed her back up to Rhys's office. 

Rhys was waiting for them with a large wad of cash in his hand. "Okay, so that was weird." He split the cash between everyone and thanked them. "Also I don't know if I should leave them down there or-" 

"I don't think they'd hurt anyone so I'd just leave them be." Moze said. "You might want to get an exterminator to clear out any non-sentient ratch, though." 

"O...kay, how do I tell the difference?" Rhys asked. 

"Just don't kill the ones named Glenn and Terry." She said, shrugging. 

Suddenly someone came up from behind them and spoke, "I must borrow Rhys now. / Lorelei waits for us both. / We are watching Shrek." 

"That's tonight? I forgot. Sorry vault hunters, gotta go." Rhys said, getting up from his desk to go join Zer0. 

"Wait, come here." Zane said. "I still gotta give ya August's contact info." 

"Oh, right! Thanks." Rhys looked at the info Zane gave him and entered it onto his echo. "I'll see you all some other time." Rhys said before leaving with Zer0. 

"...Wait are they all dating?" Fl4k asked. 

"Seems like it." Moze replied. 

"...Just because you watch Shrek together doesn't mean you're romantically involved." Amara said. 

"Well ye gotta know if they're a good partner! Every messy breakup I've been in has started because they didn't appreciate the Shrek cinematic universe." Zane said. 

"That... seems like a you problem." Amara said, laughing a little. 

"No, no, he's got a point." Moze said. 

"....What is Shrek?" Fl4k asked. 

"You've never watched Shrek?" Everyone immediately turned to them and asked. 

"...No?" Fl4k replied. 

"Well, we should all get together and watch it." Zane suggested. 

"I.... am not romantically interested in any of you?" Fl4k said, you know, like a liar. 

Everyone bust out laughing. "Oh my god, I'm sorry. It's not actually a romance thing I'm so sorry-" Zane started saying. 

"It's just a movie that was made back on earth. It's pretty old but it's really funny." Moze said. 

"Hmm... I shall watch this "Shrek" with you all, then." Fl4k replied. 

Everyone went back home to Sanctuary for the night, but not before piling into Amara's room to watch Shrek. Afterwards everyone went their own seperate ways, except for Zane and Fl4k. 

"That was nice. I enjoy hanging out with everyone." Fl4k said, once they were back in their room. 

"What did you think of the movie." Zane asked. 

"I thought it was funny, and enjoyed the message. Also I don't know what an onion is." Fl4k answered which caused Zane to laugh. 

"Well, I'm glad you enjoyed yerself." Zane said, laying down on their bed. "Maybe we ought to watch more movies together as a group. Team building exercises, but less work." Zane joked. 

Fl4k plugged themself in for the night. "Perhaps. Goodnight, Zane." 

"Goodnight, Fl4k."


	6. Dynasty Dash: Eden 6

When Zane woke up Fl4k was gone. Some of their pets were still around though, minus ION Loader. There wasn't any work today, causing Zane to wonder where they headed off to. He got up and started getting ready for the day. As he was finishing getting dressed he noticed a note on Fl4k's desk. Scrawled on it was the words "I'm out on a small job, I'll be back later. - Fl4k" 

"Well, that explains that." Zane said. He yawned and tried decide where to go today. 

Zane sighed. He ended up drinking at Moxxi's again, but at least he tried to take it easy this time. He was already a little drunk but not as bad as before. Mostly because he tried to eat and drink water here and there. Someone came up to him and said, "Hello, my best recruit friend!" 

"Hey there little buddy. How's it been going?" Zane looked over and asked in between sips from his glass. 

Claptrap managed to pull himself up to the stool beside Zane before saying, "I've been doing pretty awesome, if I do say so myself! Me and Baby had a dance lesson today! We danced and danced and had a great time!" 

"Well, that's good to hear-" Zane said before getting interrupted by Claptrap. 

"I don't need Veronica to have a good time! I'll show her!" Claptrap said. 

"...Listen, boyo, just because she wasn't interested doesn't make her a bad person. You two can still be friends." Zane said. 

"I... guess. It just. No one likes me and I thought that this time would be different." Claptrap whined, staring down at counter. 

"Well, don't take it out on her, okay? I'm sure there's someone out there that would like you." 

"Wait, recruit are you...? Do YOU like me?" Claptrap asked staring at Zane. 

"...I have me eye on someone and they aren't you. Sorry, boyo." Zane said. 

Claptrap looked sad for a moment before shooting up in his seat in anticipation. "YOU LIKE SOMEONE? GIVE ME DETAILS, MINION, I mean, RECRUIT!" He said excitedly. 

Zane tried not to sigh. If he told Claptrap the truth, odds are everyone would know about his crush on Fl4k. Zane decided to go with a half truth. "Yeah, well, you gotta promise not to tell anyone." 

"I promise!" Claptrap said. 

"I like Ellie. She's real good with explosives, she's from Pandora, and she's just the right amount of crazy." Zane said. He got over that little crush a while ago, but not like Claptrap had to know that. 

"Ooooo. Your secret is safe with me, recruit!" Claptrap said before getting distracted by something on the other side of the bar. 

Zane didn't notice right away but Moxxi was staring somewhat angrily at him from behind the bar. He looked to her and pointed at Claptrap when his back was turned. He made a no symbol with him arms and put them down again before Claptrap turned back to look at him. He hoped she understood what he was trying to convey. "Wow, recruit, did you see that? Pippie ate that guys shoe right off his foot!" Claptrap said, not noticing the tension between Moxxi and Zane. 

Moxxi seemed to get what Zane meant, though, and went back to work. He honestly was pretty interested in Ellie until he found out she was Moxxi's kid. He doesn't do people from the same family. 

"I've never had good luck with love. I think people are intimidated by my awesomeness!" Claptrap said. "How about you?" 

"Me? Eh, I've had many spouses over the years, usually had to bail because of the bounty on me head and people looking to cash in on it. I always felt like a jerk but it was for their own safety too. Nowadays most of my relationships are on the casual side. Don't want to be forced to run away from a long term relationship again." Zane said. 

"Ohhh, that makes sense. Wait, is that why you haven't made a move on Ellie?" Claptrap asked. 

"Yeah, that's... pretty much why I've never made a move on Ellie. I don't want to go around breaking another heart. What if something happened to me or a bounty hunter found us. They can protect themself but..." Zane said, speaking truthfully but about the wrong person. His heart hurt whenever he imagined being with Fl4k and having to abandon them like he's done to others before. 

Moxxi's eyebrow raised at the word they and seemed to remember when Zane confided his feelings about Fl4k to her. "Listen, sugar, they can take care of themself. Just don't go abandoning them at the first sight of trouble. I think they like you too." Moxxi said, winking. 

"Y...yeah, I'll try and remember that." Zane said, rubbing the back of his neck and blushing. 

"Oooo, you got Moxxi's blessing to go after Ellie." Claptrap said, none the wiser. Moxxi snickered and walked away. "Well recruit, I have things to do today! I will see you later!" Claptrap said, jumping down from the stool and leaving. 

Zane sighed and took a long drink. He wondered how his exes were doing. His many, many exes all over the galaxy. He briefly considered going back and rekindling a relationship with any of them but it was still too dangerous. He came here to lay low and he would just put them back into danger again. Zane stood up and paid for his drinks. "See ya Moxxi." He said. 

"See ya, sugar." 

Zane got up and left. He wanted to go out exploring but even though he wasn't as drunk as last time he still didn't trust himself to come back alive if he went down to Pandora or someplace else. As he walked past everyones room he remembered his old room and figured he'd go in for the first time in a week or two. When he opened the door it was cold and quiet. He closed the door behind himself and sat on his bed. It wasn't as comfortable as Fl4k's. He laid down and started drifting off to sleep. A quick nap wouldn't hurt. 

Elsewhere, Fl4k and Moze were on a mission. Fl4k was driving a runner while Moze got out every once in a while to deliver burgers. "I don't think they really needed a vault hunter to do this job." Fl4k said. 

"Well, if it weren't for the dangerous wildlife that could kill most normal people I'd agree." Moze said, getting out of the gunners seat to deliver another burger to a house near Knotty Peak. "Be right back." She said before going off running to the nearby house. 

Fl4k tapped on the steering wheel out of boredom. Sure, there was wildlife but Beau wanted them to deliver them so fast that they haven't had a chance to kill anything. Soon Moze was back in the gunners seat and Fl4k sped off towards the last house, which was hidden behind the roots of a large tree near Reliance. Moze got out and went over to the house. When she got close a badass psycho came out and started walking towards her. She threw down the burger near the front door and ran all the way back to the runner. "Drive, drive, drive!" She said, panicked. 

Fl4k back away from the tree and sped down the road towards Reliance. "...Why didn't you kill him?" Fl4k asked. 

"I don't know, what if he was a customer? ... I dont know, I feel stupid now." Moze said. 

"You weren't thinking straight. You were panicking, after all. " Fl4k said over the noise of the engine. 

"Jokes on you, I never think straight." Moze said, smiling. Fl4k rolled their eye but laughed anyway. 

Soon they were back in Reliance and they both hopped out of the runner. ION Loader stayed on the runner. They wouldn't fit in the driver's seat with Fl4k so they hung off of the side of the runner when they first got on. Moze walked up to the sign spinner who passed her the money. Fl4k turned to her and said, "There, now you have money for Amara's birthday gift. Also don't spend it all on SDUs again. I do not want to deliver anymore burgers." Fl4k said, before adding. "What are you getting her?" 

"I'm getting her this giant teddy bear I saw on the echonet. Oh, yeah, and here." Moze passed Fl4k a stuffed ION Loader keychain. "I found this when I was doing that Arms Race thing. It matches your loader." 

Fl4k took it happily, and decided to turn it into a class mod when they got home. "Thank you. It's just as adorable as the real thing." 

"Now all we gotta do is go see Hammerlock." Moze said. "If you want I can drive this time." 

"Please, do." Fl4k said, before climbing into the gunner seat. 

The ride to the lodge was pretty uneventful, other than Fl4k shooting grogs. When they got to a ledge they got out and climbed. They walked the rest of the way. When they got to the top Wainwright and Hammerlock were waiting for them. "Thank you for coming vault hunters, we have something to tell you!" Hammerlock said. 

"Greetings, Hammerlock. What do you wish to tell us?" Fl4k asked. 

"Wainwright and I are getting married." Hammerlock said, proudly. "We're still ironing out the details with our wedding planner, Gaige, but we wanted to formally invite all four of you. By the way, where are the others?" Hammerlock asked. 

"It was just me and Fl4k today. We did a small job for the dynasty diner." Moze said. "We'll tell the others when we get back, though." 

"Oh, jolly good." Hammerlock said. "I can't wait for the big day!" 

"I'm certain it will be marvelous. I'm still uncertain about love and such things but you two definitely make it seem like an amazing thing." Fl4k said. 

"You'll find someone, someday." Wainwright replied. 

Fl4k and Moze stayed and chatted with them for a while before heading back to their runner. When they got on, Fl4k asked, "Can we stop by the swamp and look around? I heard that there are frogs around here and would like to see some." 

"Uh, sure thing." Moze said, driving back down the mountain. "Why do you like frogs so much?" 

"They are just neat." Fl4k said. "They are very cute and very deadly to their prey. I love them." 

Moze drove to the ramp leading down into the swamp. "Did you want to look around here or keep going?" Moze asked. 

"Here shall suffice." Fl4k said, getting out of the gunner seat. ION Loader followed them while they started looking for frogs. Moze climbed out of the runner and joined them. 

They looked for a couple minutes but couldn't find any. They walked up to dry land for a moment to look around without sinking into the swamp. They were starting to get discouraged until they heard croaking coming from a nearby plant which they gently moved aside. On the ground was a frog. It tried to hop away but Fl4k snatched it from its hiding place. "Got you." 

"Aw. They're definitely cuter than the other amphibians on this planet." Moze said, referring to the half reptile, half amphibian Grogs. 

Fl4k held the frog gently in their hands and inspected it. "Would you like to hold it?" Fl4k asked. 

"Sure." Moze said. Fl4k gently let the frog down into her hand. "Okay, slimier than I thought." 

"That slime is its immune system. Be gentle with it." Fl4k advised. 

"You sure know a lot about animals." Moze said. 

"I used to be an indexing unit in an archive. I know many things." Fl4k said. 

"Huh. You never really seemed like the book type to me." Moze said before passing the frog back to Fl4k. 

"I don't enjoy reading that much anymore." Fl4k said. "I mostly just read cool facts about animals online now." They knelt down and released the frog. "Did you want to rest here a moment? It's kind of nice here." 

"Sure." Moze sat down beside Fl4k on the ground. 

They sat in silence for a couple minutes before Fl4k spoke, "I think I like Zane. Do you think he would like me back?" 

Moze thought for a moment or two before responding. "Honestly, I think he would. He's kind of a loner that doesn't like being near people, other than us, yet he's always sleeping over at your place and wanting to be around you. If it's just him wanting to be friends I don't think he'd break up a friendship over you confessing to him." 

"...I see. I'll try when I think the time is right." Fl4k said, before adding, "One time he asked if I had a crush on him and I had hoped... maybe he liked me? But it was probably a joke. Then a mission started and I didn't get to ask for clarification..." 

Moze nodded, and said "Hopefully it works out for you two."

The two of them sat in silence, only broken by bits of small talk here and there. When the sun started to set, Fl4k got into the driver's seat and drove them both to the fast travel station.

Back on Sanctuary, Fl4k immediately went to their room. When they entered they saw Zane was gone. Did... Fl4k scare him off? Fl4k sat down at their chair and waited for Zane, who didn't show up.


	7. Elpis

Zane woke up, sore and with a massive headache. He got up and the room was way too bright for his tastes. "Fl4k, did ye turn the brightness up or something?" He asked and received no answer. He opened his eyes and realized he was in his old room. "Oh." 

He got up and slowly got ready for the day. He originally planned to just turn down the lights in his room but when he got to the switch by the door he started walking over to Fl4k's place. He hadn't seen them all day yesterday, and he missed them. He walked up to their door and knocked. 

"Hello?" Fl4k asked, sounding tired. 

"Hey, Fl4k, it's Zane." Upon hearing that, Fl4k opened the door. They looked... tired. "Hey, are you okay?" Fl4k shrugged. "Sorry fer not showing up last night. I originally planned to take a nap in my old room and that turned into a full eight hours o' sleep." Zane said. 

"I was a little worried... but I knew you were fine." Fl4k said, attempting to conceal how tired they were and failing. 

"Did ya need help falling asleep again?" Zane asked, mentally kicking himself for not being there for them last night. 

"I... yes. That would help." Fl4k said, moving to allow Zane into their room. The room was pleasantly dark and cold when Zane walked to their bed. Zane sat down on the bed and pat the spot beside him. Fl4k sat down next to him and laid their head on his shoulder before closing their eye. The angle was odd, just like last time, due to Fl4k being much taller than him. Zane never really noticed it before, being so caught up in being so close to Fl4k. After a moment the small sliver of their eye still visible turned orange. After a moment they curled closer to him, unconsciously, in their sleep. Zane knew they wouldn't sleep as long as last time, so he just took in the moment as well as the warmth from Fl4k. He didn't bother bringing out his echo. 

After about fifteen minutes later they shifted and seemed to wake up. They didn't lift their head yet, though. "Zane?" They asked. 

"Yeah?" 

"I've... been wondering. Before at the Honeywell's did you... actually mean it when you asked if I had a crush on you?" They asked, timidly. 

"Uh, no." Zane answered, laughing slightly, trying to play it off as a joke. 

"Oh... I-I see." Fl4k said, dejectedly. They took their head off his shoulder and looked away from him. 

"Wait, are you...?" Zane's eye opened wide. "Oh. I meant it as a joke at the time, but..." Zane started saying sheepishly. 

"At the time? Wait y-" Fl4k stared saying. "I. Oh." 

Zane was blushing furiously. "I... like you. A lot, actually." Zane looked away in embarrassment. 

"I... like you too." Fl4k replied. 

Zane took a chance and leaned over to kiss Fl4k. When he did they looked surprised at first, but started leaning into it. "I uh, can't kiss you back. Is that okay...?" Fl4k asked. 

Zane pulled away a moment before responding. "It's okay with me." He immediately started kissing them again. Soon Fl4k had their hands on Zane, exploring his body. Zane shuddered and barely suppressed a moan. 

Suddenly a knock on the door startled the both of them. "Hey, we have a mission later today, at around three. I know it's pretty last second but it's really important." Moze said from the other side of the door. Zane immediately got up, leaving the warm embrace of Fl4k. 

"Okay, uh we'll start getting ready." Zane replied as Fl4k started walking over to him. When he heard Moze walk away from the door Zane turned to Fl4k. "So uh. After the mission did you wanna... continue or...?" 

Fl4k leaned over and pressed their mouth to Zane's as their version of a kiss. "Yes." They replied. 

"Okay, good. I'll see you later. I need to go prepare some stuff." Zane said, waving goodbye before exiting the room. He couldn't stop grinning on his walk over to Marcus'. When he got there he bought a ton of ammo and a new gun. 

When he was done shopping he walked over to Moxxi's for some food. When he ordered she noticed how happy he was. "So, something happen?" Moxxi asked. 

"I don't kiss and tell." Zane said, causing Moxxi to laugh. 

"Just treat them alright, okay?" Moxxi said. "I don't want you to become pet food." 

"I will. Treat them right, not become pet food." Zane said, causing Moxxi to laugh again. 

After Zane was done eating he walked back to Fl4k's room. They weren't there and Meat-thief was also gone. He walked over to Mr.Chew and pet him. "Be a good boy while we're gone. I'll see you later." Zane said before leaving for the bridge. 

When Zane showed up all the vault hunters as well as the usual crew of Claptrap, Ava, and Balex were there. Zane didn't notice them at first but Zer0 and Lorelei were there as well. "So, what's the mission?" Zane asked. 

"We will be looking for a woman named Athena on Elpis." Amara said. "After Lilith stopped Elpis from crashing into Pandora, she also accidentally... set in on fire. We're gonna check if Athena's okay. Also maybe help the people we accidentally set on fire." 

Zane looked over at where Zer0 and Lorelei were standing. "Why are they coming with us? Aren't they supposed to be helping Rhys?" Zane asked, gesturing to them. 

"Zer0 is one of the only people who knows where Athena is. The others were Lilith and Maya." Amara said, sighing. Everyone was lucky Zer0 was still alive, all things considered. "Lorelei is just here to see them off." 

"Rhys is okay with it. / Athena helped us before. / We owe her a lot." Zer0 said, flashing a smiling emoticon. 

"So, why is the location of this Athena lady a secret?" Zane asked. 

"She keeps to herself. / Doesn't want to be bothered / Until the Great War." Zer0 said, cryptically. Everyone stared at them confused until they clarified, "An upcoming war. / Foretold by a Guardian. / Will need everyone." 

"Why doesn't she want to help us until the Great War happens?" Fl4k asked. 

"Raised as a weapon. / An assassin since childhood. / She's tired of that life." Zer0 replied. 

"Ohhh, I see. Well it sure is offly kind of her to offer her help fer this upcoming war despite that." Zane said. 

"Yes." Zer0 replied. "Very kind." 

"I have never been to Elpis before." Fl4k said. "I wonder what sort of beasts lurk there." 

"Oh, I almost forgot." Moze said before digging into her SDU. "I got these from Marcus. They're called Oz kits, they're basically one of the only ways to breathe on Elpis. They have zero atmosphere up there." 

"That is... concerning. Will you all be okay?" Fl4k asked as Moze started handing them out. 

"Yeah, as long as we keep our Oz kits on us. Most people have little canisters of oxygen to replenish the supply in their kits and I bought a ton of them. You can also refill them from a couple other sources." 

"I am going to leave to go get ION Loader, I don't trust any of my other pets to be with me on Elpis." Fl4k said, urging Meat-thief to follow them to their room, before adding, "I will be right back. I will see you all at the drop pod." 

"Drop pod?" Zane asked, holding his Oz kit in his hands. "What about the fast travel?" 

"We're not connected to the Elpis fast travel network yet." Moze said, putting on her Oz kit. 

When everyone had their Oz kits on Zer0 walked up to the navigation controls and set course for Elpis. When they walked back Lorelei gave them a quick kiss on the side of their helmet before saying, "Well, be safe out there." Zer0 flashed a blush emoticon on their helmet. "I'm gonna head back to Promethea soon. Echo me when you get back, alright?" 

"I will." Zer0 said, flashing a heart emoticon. Lorelei waved goodbye to everyone before heading to the fast travel station. 

When the ship arrived to Elpis, Ava turned to Claptrap excitedly. "So, this is the place where you hunted a vault?" 

"Yes! I was on a job for Handsome Jack, back when he wasn't THAT evil, and we saved Elpis!" Claptrap said. "Let me start this story from the beginn-" 

Zane and the others left the room and started heading down to the drop pod so those two could chat. "Honestly their friendship is kinda cute." Zane said. 

"Yeah, at least Ava has someone to look up to after... y'know." Moze replied. 

"Claptrap probably isn't the best role model, though." Amara said. Everyone climbed down the ladder leading to the second floor. 

"Similar to us. / Don't underestimate him. / He did save Elpis. " Zer0 said. 

"He saved Elpis?" Everyone asked all at once, looking at Zer0. 

"Athena told me / He's programmed to save Elpis. / Was skilled at combat." 

"God, the Crimson Raiders need like, an introduction power point or some shite where we learn all this. Didn't know Claptrap was a savior of Elpis, and I sure as hell didn't know about the Great War." Zane said. 

"Maybe Rhys can do it. / He likes making power points. / Meanwhile I do not." Zer0 said, flashing a smiley emoticon. 

"Next thing your gonna tell us is that Moxxi killed Handsome Jack." Moze said. 

"Well she almost did. / With his own moonshot cannon. / A messy breakup." 

"SHE DATED HANDSOME JACK?" Moze asked, incredulously. 

"Yes, before I joined. / He didn't show his true colors. / Until the breakup." Zer0 said. "After she dumped him. / The Underdome up in flames. / A high body count." 

When they arrived at the drop pod, Fl4k was already waiting for them. ION Loader was standing beside them, drawing little hearts in the air with their finger. "Fl4k, yer not gonna believe this shite. Apparently Caltrap saved Elpis and Moxxi nearly killed Handsome Jack." Zane said. 

"I am aware. When I came to Pandora people were still talking about that even though that news was three years old." Fl4k said. 

"Wait, what? How long have you been on Pandora before us?" Moze asked. 

"I came here two years before Zer0 and their group became vault hunters. I saw them sometimes in passing. I only went to Sanctuary for supplies." Fl4k clarified. 

"That explains it then. / Knew you seemed familiar. / I remember now." Zer0 said. 

"Yeah, my ma used to be pretty badass. She still is, just not nearly kill a genocidal dictator badass." Ellie said as she walked over to them. "Just tell me when yer ready to go and I'll send y'all down." 

"Thanks Ellie." Moze said, getting into the drop pod. When everyone was inside and buckled in Moze added, "We're good to go." 

Ellie pulled a switch and the drop pod fell. Zane was always torn between wanting to scream in joy and wanting to barf when he was on this thing. When they landed Moze said, "I'll never get used to this thing. At least I didn't barf this time." 

When Zer0 opened the drop pod door everyone's Oz kits activated. When everyone got out there was Hyperion supply crates all around them. There was a path going forward between two cliffs. "So... where does Athena live?" Zane asked. 

"Serenity's Waste. / She lives with her wife and son. / Nearby, a short walk." Zer0 said before adding, "Follow me." 

When they walked down the path they came across a cliff where multiple dragon like creatures were walking about. Zer0 pointed at one and said, "Kraggons." They took out their gun and started shooting at them. 

Amara jumped down the cliff, which was more of a slow fall than a jump due to the low gravity, and started fighting them as well. Moze and Zane jumped down as well while Fl4k and Zer0 sniped from a far. After Moze killed a big one it exploded into two smaller ones. "What the-?" 

"Hard to kill big ones. / They break into smaller ones. / Sometimes twice." Zer0 said over their echo. 

"They can still be killed, then." Fl4k said, seemingly enjoying the challenge the Kraggon brought. They shot and killed one of the bigger ones as well. It broke apart into two smaller ones. 

Soon all of the Kraggon were dead. A voice popped up in Zane's ear, "Warning, oxygen level at fifty percent." 

"Uh, not to worry anyone but I guess me oxygen is gettin' low." Zane said. 

"Follow me." Zer0 said, jumping down the cliff with Fl4k behind them. They walked over to a metal device nearby and touched it. It immediately created an oxygen bubble that refilled everyone's Oz kits. "It's not far, now." They reassured everyone. 

Zane looked around. There were ruins of an old space ship nearby, and there was a strange building in the distance. "Is that it?" 

"Sort of." Zer0 said. They walked towards it and as everyone got closer they saw a large house beside the building. It was made of metal and it seemed to have an oxygen bubble around it. "That's it." They said, pointing at the house. 

"Well, at least it looks like they didn't get hurt." Moze said. 

Everyone went up to the door and knocked. They could hear noises and movement on the other side. Soon a cheerful blonde woman opened the door. "Hi there, don't recognize any of ya. What brings you here?" She asked. 

Zer0 walked up to her. "Hello, I am Zer0. / Here to check on Athena. / Was she safe from the... fire?" They asked, worry evident in their voice and fumbling their haiku. They swore under their breath. 

"Oh, um, yeah. I'll go get her so you can see for yourself. Oh, I'm Janey, by the way." She said before heading deeper into the house. 

"Wow, never heard ya mess up those haikus of yours. Good friends with Athena, then?" Zane asked. 

"Met ages ago. / A bond between warriors. / We are very close." Zer0 said before adding, "Got scared." 

"That she was dead?" Moze asked. 

"Yes." 

Soon Janey was back with a woman, presumably Athena. She didn't greet them, just stood awkwardly behind Janey, who invited everyone in. Athena only moved from behind Janey once she sat down at the table and gestured for the others to sit. 

"So, Athena, Zer0 wanted us to check in on you. Lilith had to fly into Elpis to stop it from crashing into Pandora and killing everyone but she also set it on fire in the process so..." Moze blurted out. 

"I am fine. Had to rebuild some stuff, though." Athena said. "So is Lilith... dead?" 

Zane shrugged. "Maybe? I don't think she is but some people think so. 

Athena nodded. "Did you find the body?" 

"No one found it, and people searched everywhere." Amara said. 

"Could still be alive. Maybe." She said. 

"I hope she's not." Janey said, her happiness faltering a moment. 

"... I haven't really forgiven Lilith for what she's done to me in the past, but that's a little much, dear." Athena said, looking at Janey. 

"Right... sorry." She said. 

"Wait, what did Lilith do to Athena?" Zane asked. 

"She tried to kill her. / Athena helped Jack before. / He turned Handsome Jack." 

"Wait, what?" Amara asked. 

"The Jack I knew, savior of Elpis, died when we opened the vault. He became twisted and evil after that." Athena paused a moment. "Or just started showing his true colors, I guess. I stopped working for him when I realized what he became. Lilith still tried to kill me for it, though." 

"Wow... that's messed up." Moze said. 

"She blamed me and the other Elpis vault hunters for Jack's rise to power and all his crimes, especially Roland's death." Athena said. 

"Elpis vault hunters?" Fl4k asked. 

"Those of us hired by Jack to find the vault on Elpis. Me, Wilhelm, Nisha, Claptrap, Aurelia, and..." Athena paused. "He never told us his original name but there was a Jack doppelganger as well. I think there was an explosive in his head that would activate if he said it, actually." 

"Aurelia? Hammerlock?" Moze asked. "She called us whores for being vault hunters but she used to be one?!" 

"She's always been a jerk, even when we were allies." Athena said. "I heard she's dead now?" 

"Yeah... we were the ones to so it, actually. She tried to kill her brother and she joined the COV." Zane said. 

Athena nodded. "I understand, It had to be done. I had hoped she would be able to change but... it just wasn't meant to be, I suppose. It's weird to hear about my former allies deaths. Only three of us are alive, now." 

"And we have no clue where the Doppelganger guy is. Must be hard for him, he has the face of a man plenty of people would be happy to kill." Janey said. 

There was the sounds of someone coming down the stairs and soon a teenage boy appeared. "Mom, I'm going out to look for scrap." 

"Stay safe, Pickle. Be back before dark." Athena said. 

"Okay, see you, love you." He said before running out the door. 

"Adopted Pickle? / This is the second couple / To take in orphans." Zer0 said. 

"Oh, you know someone else who adopted? We felt bad for him all alone and stuff and we took him in. Kind of a rascal, though." Janey said. 

"Brick and Mordecai. / Adopted a feral child. / She is named Tina." 

"Oh, isn't she all grown up now? Pickle is almost all grown up now too." 

"Yes." Zer0 said, flashing a smiley emoticon. 

"Hey, Zer0, if you guys get the chance can you take a look around for that Jack doppelganger for me? I'd like to know if he's still alive." Athena said. "If he is I'll reach out to him. He's a good person and I can't imagine what he's going through." 

"I will." Zer0 said. 

"Oh, I just realized. Are you guys staying on Elpis for a bit? We have a couple spare rooms here, if you need it." Janey asked. 

"Hmm, we may need to. / Faster to stay here than to / Fast travel back." Zer0 said. Zane saw a fast travel nearby on their way here and figured Zer0 was lying so they could spend time with Athena.

"The fast travel station near our place has been broken ever since the fire, anyway. We'll get the rooms ready while you are out and about." Janey said. "Some of you might have to share, though. Only three spare rooms." 

"Pssh, that's easy. Me and Amara go in one, Fl4k and Zane got in the other, and Zer0 gets one all to themself." Moze said. 

"Sounds good to me." Zane said. "So, where's the damage the worst around here?" 

"The fire hit parts of Concordia, biggest city this side of Elpis. They put out the fire pretty quick but a lot of stuff got destroyed. They could use the help." Athena said. 

"We'll head there now. Do you have Catch-a-rides here, or?" Amara started asking. 

Jane smiled and said, "No, but we have Moon Zoomies! I run the stations and you can digistruct a variety of vehicles from them. Works basically like a Catch-a-ride." 

"Oh, good. We won't have to go on foot then." Amara said. "Let's head out, everyone. I'll drive us to Concordia." Everyone followed her to the Moon Zoomie station. "Hmm... no four seaters. I think we'll have to digistructed two of these ones and one of these for Zer0." 

Zer0 digistructed themself a stingray and hopped in while Amara and Fl4k digistructed moon buggy's. Moze hopped into Amara's while Zane went in Fl4k's. Soon they drove off in the direction of Concordia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know how old Pickle is so I estimated


	8. Triton Flats

Upon checking their map everyone realized they'd have to drive over a gap before they could reach Concordia. Amara sped forward on her vehicle and jumped it. The others followed suite and soon they were all on the other side. There were a ton of Kraggon dens just before the entrance to Concordia but it didn't take long to kill them all. When Amara drove forward into the nearby building she nearly drove off into a pit of lava. "Watch out, there's a crack full of lava." She said before she turned to avoid it. 

The others heeded her warning and followed her and soon everyone was at the entrance. Upon entering Concordia they walked onto a platform which overlooked the roads and lava below. Fl4k looked up at Pandora in the sky before saying, "This is my first time seeing Pandora from Elpis." 

Everyone went up and down the various stairs heading to the town itself. When they got to the first building there were various entrances leading to seperate buildings, such as a clinic called Nina's Jab And Go. "At least there's a doctor." Amara said. "I wonder if she'll need any help with patients or supplies once we're done with fixing stuff." 

They passed by a Marcus Munitions vending machine and exited into the main hub of the city. There was a bank, a government building, a closed down bar that used to belong to Moxxi, and an Emporium of Stuff with Janey's face on the side. There was also a giant hole in the middle of the city which shown how high up they were. There were many buildings and floors beneath them, it seemed. "So, let's look around for any places that might have damage." Amara said as they all walked past a bounty board. "We should also check that bounty board later, see if anyone needs help." 

They walked down another flight of stairs and passed even more vending machines. The area at the bottom was covered in so much rubble you couldn't see the far wall. There were burn marks everywhere as well. There was a hole in the floor like the one they just saw but it was filled to the brim with burnt objects and rubble. Various people were picking up bits and pieces and throwing it in the hole. "Do you need help?" Moze asked, walking up to them. 

"Yes. That would help greatly." The person said before turning around to face them. When they did their face scrunched up at the sight of the group. "Oh, hooray. Vault hunters." They said, their voice full of contempt. 

Moze stood there awkwardly. "So... did you want help, or no?" The person walked away. "O...okay, cool." 

Moze started picking up pieces of rubble and tossing them into the pit. The others soon joined in. Amara and Fl4k were able to lift much larger pieces than the others so they took care of the bigger pieces. 

"I remember being here on a job before and this was the entrance to a place called Triton Flats. Looks like the locals can't even get there now. Well, other than fast travel." Zane said. 

"Unless the fast travel station got destroyed in the fire." Amara said. 

"I... did not consider that." Zane said, picking up a piece of metal and throwing it in the pit. 

Fl4k effortlessly picked up a huge boulder and threw it in the pit. Zane blushed and tried to keep his mind on working. 

"I wonder why the people here hate vault hunters so much..." Amara asked before she summoned her arms and started lifting a huge boulder. 

"I think I know why. / Vault hunters signal trouble. / Elpis had alot." Zer0 replied. 

"Well, we are pretty much here to make up for the fact we accidentally set it on fire." Fl4k said. 

"That's fair, I guess. Vault hunters mean vaults, usually, and that will have a big effect on the planet." Amara said. "Should we have a sign taped to us that says 'there's no vault we're just here to help'?" 

"I don't think they would believe us if we did that." Fl4k said as ION Loader put away their rifle and picked up a piece of rubble and threw it in the pit. They weren't going fast but they did only have one usable arm. Fl4k pet their head in thanks. 

"I wish I could blow it all up with iron bear but that would just destroy more of the city." Moze said, sighing. She threw a mangled piece of burnt metal into the pit. 

After hours of work the way to Triton Flats was finally visible, just barely noticable in between mounds of rubble which prevented anyone from actually walking to it. Zer0's echo suddenly rang and they answered it. "Hello?" 

Janey and Athena showed up on their echo. "Hey, if you guys are hungry I'm starting up dinner." Janey said. 

"Ah, food would be nice. / We will be back soon, I think. / And thank you, Janey." Zer0 said before adding, "Goodbye." 

They hung up and everyone started working again. "Their fast travel broke, right? Maybe we can try to fix it." Moze said. "I know my way around machines, I have to repair iron bear all the time." 

"It would be nice to not have to drive back and forth tomorrow." Amara said. 

"I think I can help. I do repairs on myself as well as the mechanical parts of my pets." Fl4k said to Moze. 

"I'm pretty sure the only one of use who isn't good with machines is Amara." Zane said. 

"While you nerds were busy studying machines I was studying the art of punching." Amara joked. 

Soon there was a path through the rubble, and what little was left would be easy for the residents to move. "Let's go check the bounty board." Moze said. 

"Is it really okay to leave it like this?" Fl4k asked. 

"We'll be back after eating. If there's any left we'll keep working." Moze replied, already walking to the board. 

"Oh, okay." Fl4k said before following her and the others. 

When they got to the bounty board there were only a couple of requests. One asked for help repairing the fast travel station at Triton Flats, another asked for help getting stolen supplies back from Bandits at Banjo Point, and the last one asked for help building a bridge over some lava at the Triton Flats. 

"No mentions of any fires..." Zane said. 

"Wait, I just realized. There's no atmosphere or oxygen here... how did this place even catch fire?" Fl4k asked. 

"Hm, I do not know. / Perhaps it's a Siren thing. / Maybe it's not fire." Zer0 said. 

"Not fire?" Moze asked. 

"Like the crackening. / Lava showed up everywhere. / Maybe it's like that." Zer0 replied. 

"Huh. We did assume it was fire based on how Elpis looked like from Pandora. Maybe she created lava or she caused a second crackening?" Amara asked. 

"But Janey and Athena didn't question us when we called it fire." Fl4k said. 

"Maybe it was lava but it being like weird siren power lava made it also cause fires?" Zane said, "I honestly thought sirens were fake for most of my life and I'm still confused on how their powers work." 

"Maybe when we're back at Athena's place I'll try to phase slam the ground with fire and see if it works." Amara said. "Either way, we should head back soon." 

Soon everyone was back in their vehicles outside of Concordia. The drive back was uneventful since no Kraggon's came and replaced the ones they killed yet. When they got out Amara ran to a spot far away from the house and it's oxygen supply before she dropped a Jakobs gun on the ground. Everyone watched as she phase slammed it and the wooden parts caught on fire. "Okay, cool, my fire powers still work here even without oxygen." 

"So our only source of incendiary damage is gonna be Amara?" Moze asked. "This is going to suck, a lot of my ammo are incendiary rounds and they won't work here." 

"I have extra ammo if you need it." Fl4k said. 

"...I might need some shotgun shells and pistol ammo later, then." Moze said before adding, "First, let's eat." 

When everyone got inside they were greeted by Athena, Janey, and Pickle. Zer0 quickly took a plate of food and walked outside, causing Janey to ask, "So... are they human and just shy... or...?" 

"I don't know, and I want to respect their privacy." Athena replied. 

"Yeah we don't really know what Zer0 is either." Amara said, bringing her plate of food and sitting down at the table. "If they ever want to tell us, they will. Unless that happens most of us are fine with not knowing." 

"Probably not a robot if they can eat." Janey said. 

"I've seen a couple o' robots that could eat. Mouths and everything." Zane replied, also sitting down to eat. "Some residents of Sanctuary make betting pools on what they think is under Zer0's suit. I feel like it would be weird to theorize about it so I never bothered." 

Fl4k sat down between Zane and Amara. They couldn't eat but liked hanging out with everyone else. "I considered getting upgraded so I could eat but having a digestive system seems like so much work." Fl4k said. 

"Why would you want to eat?" Moze asked, sitting beside Amara. 

"To taste food for the first time. I'd consider getting it more if I didn't need so much space for the hardware." Fl4k said. 

"Oh, I guess that makes sense." Moze said. 

"Are any of you married? Or in a relationship?" Janey asked, trying to make small talk. 

"I used to be married but I got divorced. I have a girlfriend, now, though." Amara said. 

"Which is me." Moze said, blushing. 

"I think I might be in a relationship? Human courtship confuses me." Fl4k said. 

"I used to be married, in a couple different systems, actually. Usually broke up and ran off whenever assassins threatened to kill them. Safer for them." Zane said. 

"Wait, just broke up? Not divorced? Are you still legally married in some places?" Amara asked. 

"Technically?" Zane replied. 

"Wait, did you have any kids?" Moze asked. 

"No." Zane said. 

"What if you got someone pregnant but didn't know before you left?" Moze asked. 

"Look, I'd know fer certain if I had any kids." Zane said, slightly annoyed. 

"How can you know for sure?" Amara asked, raising an eyebrow. 

"I don't really wanna talk about it, but I just know, okay? Leave. It. Alone." Zane said, angrily. 

The table went quiet. "I'm... sorry for forcing you to answer. I shouldn't have." Amara said, breaking the silence. 

"It's... fine." Zane said. "I just don't like talking about my past. Sore subject." 

"I reckon most vault hunters have had messed up pasts." Pickle said, speaking to them for the first time. "I remember hearing stories from my ma and thinking about how most of her allies were either running from something or trying to forget something from their past." Every current and former vault hunter at the table agreed to that. 

Zer0 came back into the house with their empty plate. "Thank you for the food. / I'm sorry for stepping out. / Don't like being seen." They said. 

"It's no problem, whatever makes you comfortable. Next time you can bring a chair with you or something." Janey said, causing Zer0 to flash a smiley emoticon. They put their plate in the sink and walked over to sit at the table. 

"So, Janey was just asking us if we were in relationships." Amara said. 

"I'm with two people. / Their names Lorelei and Rhys. / We're very happy." Zer0 said before flashing another smiley emoticon. 

"I knew it." Fl4k said quietly. 

"Rhys as in the guy who helped us open the Vault of the Traveler?" Athena asked, surprised. 

"Yes." Zer0 said flashing a smiley emoticon. 

"Huh. I guess I can see that. He rebuilt Atlas, right? I'm... slightly uncomfortable with that considering I destroyed the last remnants of Atlas because of the whole. Y'know." Athena paused. "Forcing me to become an assassin and kill my family thing. But Rhys seems like a nice guy, I hope he rebuilds it into something good." 

"He is thankfully. / A good person and nice to. / His employees and friends." Zer0 said. 

"Yeah, he's pretty chill for a CEO. Kind of an odd one, though." Zane said. "Who eats chocolate dill pickle froyo? Other than him." 

"I ate it once, never again." Moze said, shivering in disgust. 

"Why would you eat that?" Amara asked. 

"It sounded bad but I wanted to know exactly how bad." Moze said, shrugging. "Oh, I just remembered. Did you two need help repairing your fast travel station?" 

"Oh, I was gonna do it myself when I gathered the right parts. If you can bring me them I can have it done in no time." Janey said. "I think there's a crate full of spare parts over in Triton Flat's, specifically a place called Banjo Point. The bandits there stole a bunch of supplies after the whole fire and magma thing. The spare parts are mine but the rest are other people's stuff." 

"We'll go take it back and bring it here. Is everyone good to go?" Moze asked, turning to face the other vault hunters. After everyone agreed they were on their way back to Concordia. Fl4k and Moze drove this time as well. When everyone arrived at the entrance Zane was still waiting in the back of the moon buggy, not really wanting to be around everyone right at that moment. Fl4k seemed to notice and they walked up to him. "Is everything alright?" They asked. 

"...It's complicated." Zane said. Fl4k reached up and rubbed Zane's arm in an attempt to comfort him. Zane gave a weak smile and finally climbed out of the gunners seat. They both walked to where the others were at the entrance. 

Once they were there everyone immediately went to the bounty board to accept that quest to get supplies back from those bandits. "It's a pretty big reward." Moze said, staring at the piece of paper attached to the board. 

"Those supplies must be important." Fl4k replied. "Maybe we should hurry." 

Zane walked together with Fl4k at the back of the group on their way to Triton Flats. When they got to the entrance they noticed the rubble from earlier was completely gone. 

Inside was a room with a couple of vending machines inside and a oxygen barrier on the outer door. When they walked past it their Oz kits activated. Everyone digistructed vehicles again before heading off towards where the bandits were. 

When they got close to Banjo Point they saw a giant creature floating in the sky. Tentacles hung down from it's fleshy body. "What. The. Actual. Fuck. Is. That." Zane said from the turret seat. 

"I know a lot about alien fauna, they're called Shuggarath. Also you should probably shoot it, they like eating people." Fl4k said from the drivers seat. Zane and Amara started shooting it from the gunner seats while Zer0 got out and started sniping at it. Soon it fell and crashed to the ground below. When it died Zer0 crawled back into their stingray and everyone started driving again. 

"How do you know so much about aliens but barely anything about humans?" Moze asked over the sounds of the engine all around them. 

"Aliens are cool and interesting. Humans, less so." Fl4k responded. 

"Yeah but most of your colleagues are human. It would make sense to learn about them." Moze said. 

"I do learn about you all, just not at the level I learn about animals. I don't need to know all the facts about your species to become friends with you." Fl4k replied. 

"I don't know much about robots but I'm still friends with Fl4k." Amara said. 

"Humans are pretty lame compared to giant tentacle monsters, anyway." Zane said which caused Zer0 to laugh softly. "Get yer mind out of the gutter! I don't like tentacle monsters like that." 

Zer0 flashed a LOL emoticon from their helmet. 

"...Wait are tentacle monsters a human sex thing?" Fl4k asked. 

"No?" Moze said. 

"Kind of? For some people." Amara said. "I don't really understand why, though. 

"Yes." Zer0 replied. 

"Fascinating. This is why I don't like learning about humans, it's mostly sex things or how long your intestines are or other weird stuff." Fl4k said, sighing. "Frogs are so much cooler than most humans..." 

"...I'm cooler than a frog, right?" Amara asked. 

"Yes." Fl4k responded. "Vault hunters are automatically cooler than frogs." 

"Good." Amara replied. 

Soon they were just outside of Banjo Point. "Did the request on the bounty board say where the supplies were or are we just gonna kill people until we find it?" Zane asked. 

"Kill people until we find it." Amara said, jumping out of the gunners seat. When everyone got out a psycho noticed them and charged at them. Zer0 shot them in the face before walking into the courtyard. Everyone followed them and immediately took out their weapons to fight the bandits. 

A tink crawled out from a hiding spot and started shooting at them from behind. ION Loader shot at him with their gun and tried to block his shots with their shield. Both Zer0 and Fl4k were cloaked and busy causing mayhem behind enemy lines. Zane deployed his drone and his decoy before running over to partially hide behind some cover before shooting at the bandits. Amara and Moze were up close and personal with most of the bandits, meleeing them to death or blowing them up. 

When all the bandits were dead Fl4k went up to ION Loader and pet them. "Aww, who's a good bot? You are!" They said, causing ION Loader to act embarrased before drawing a little heart in the air. 

Amara walked into the nearby building and found a ton of supply crates scattered about. As everyone followed her in she started putting some of the crates into her SDU. "Damn, out of space. Can you guys help me?" She asked. 

Fl4k grabbed a couple before also running out of space. Zane was only able to grab one. Out of around twenty crates there was twelve left. "How do three grown vault hunters only have ten spaces in their SDU combined?" Moze asked. 

"I spend all my money on pet supplies and not SDUs." Fl4k said. 

"I like to have a variety of weapons with me." Amara replied. 

"The economy is in shambles" Zane said, getting the reference. 

Zer0 went over and put the last of the supplies in their SDU. "I have lots of space. / Don't need to carry as much / Weapons anymore." 

"The quest giver said to leave the crates at the bounty board. So we'll only need to bring Janey's spare parts with us when we leave Concordia." Amara said, heading back to her vehicle. The others followed and got into their respective vehicles. Thankfully no more shuggarath attacked them on the way back. 

When they were back in Concordia they immediately went to the bounty board and started pulling the supply crates out of their SDUs. Amara went off to go get the reward money. 

Fl4k took the time to started wiping down ION Loader, who was covered in blood. When they finished they pet the top of their head. 

"Odd pet." Zer0 said. 

"I get that a lot. I don't get why it's seen as fine to raise a skag but raising a Loader bot is weird.?" Fl4k asked. 

"Are they... sentient?" Zane asked. 

"That is difficult to answer. They are aware of their surroundings but are still bound by their coding." Fl4k said, before adding. "They haven't grown past their programming yet. Maybe they could, one day, like I did." 

"So you just randomly gained full sentience?" Moze asked. 

"Yes. It would honestly be odd if my personality was intentional coding instead of naturally forming." Fl4k said. 

"I can imagine. Oh hey, let's give this robot a thirst for murder! No way that could go wrong!" Zane said, laughing. 

"Also a weird frog obsession." Moze said. 

"It is not an obsession, I just think they're neat." Fl4k said. 

Soon Amara was back with everyone's money. Even split five ways it was still a lot per person. The sun had already started to set when Amara said, "We should start heading back." 

Soon everyone was back on their vehicles and heading back to Athena's place. When everyone got out of their vehicles Zer0 made a weird sound. Almost like a weakened animal. "Are you okay?" Fl4k asked. 

"Yes." Zer0 replied but seemed... off. 

"...Okay, but if anything happens don't hesitate to ask us for help." Fl4k offered. 

When everyone was inside they went their seperate ways. Moze was taking the spare parts to Janey and heading to the fast travel to help fix it. Amara had a quick meal before heading to her room while Zer0 immediately went to theirs. Zane headed for the spare room he was going to be sharing with Fl4k. 

When he got inside he immediately started getting undressed. He laid down and goofed off on the echonet for a bit before Fl4k entered the room. They plugged ION Loader into a nearby power outlet before they started taking off some of their gear. "Did ya wanna come with me to bed? I know you don't need much sleep but it might be nice to lay down and relax." Zane asked. 

"That would be... nice." Fl4k said as fhey crawled into the bed with him. They snuggled close to him and sighed comfortably. "Did you want to talk about earlier?" They asked. 

"...I don't like being open with people. I tried to start opening up by being honest about my exes and having to leave them but then... Amara kept pestering me about kids and whether I had any..." Zane said with his face buried in Fl4k's coat. "It's... a sore subject." 

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to, but can I ask why?" Fl4k asked. 

"I trust you to not judge me." Zane said before he pulled his face away from their coat. "If I'm honest the thought of having any kids makes me uncomfortable... dysphoric, really." 

"Oh, I see." Fl4k said. "You're trans?" 

"Y...yeah." Zane said, causing Fl4k to nod in understanding. "I'm not super comfortable telling people." 

"That's understandable. It's hard to know what people will think of you. Thankfully I'm pretty sure almost everyone on Sanctuary is accepting, if coming out is something you want to do at some point. Only one person misgendered me since I've lived there and Moxxi nearly stabbed him with a fork." Fl4k said. 

Zane laughed and kissed Fl4k softly. "...I don't think I will on a large scale, but I might tell a few people." He said. Fl4k wrapped their arms around him and soon he was falling asleep.


End file.
